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Wichita State holds on for victory in Las Vegas Classic

Dec 20, 2006 - 6:24 AM WICHITA, Kansas (Ticker) -- Wichita State survived a scare to make their trip to Las Vegas on a high note.

Ryan Martin scored 19 points and P.J. Couisnard added 15 to lead the No. 8 Shockers to a 74-65 victory over Kennesaw State in the second round of the Las Vegas Classic.

With the win, Wichita State (9-0) matched the best start in school history, which was set in 2004-05. The Shockers next will face New Mexico in Las Vegas on Friday.

The Owls (2-9) were able to hang tough in the first half as Golden Ingle scored 21 of his 26 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range to go to the break trailing, 35-32.

Martin netted 15 points in the second half as Wichita State built a 16-point lead midway through the session only to see Kennesaw State fight back with a 12-0 run to pull within 59-56.

"That's a well coached team that came in here and got some confidence and used the clock," Shockers coach Mark Turgeon said. "We had the game and then got a little complacent. They hit some shots and we panicked a little bit."

The Shockers clamped down and went on a 7-0 run to increase their lead to 66-56 with under three minutes to play and never looked back.

Phillip Thomasson scored 14 points and Karon Bradley netted 11 off the bench for Wichita State, which shot 63 percent (27-for-43) from the floor. Overall, the Shockers' reserves outscored the Owls' 30-8.

"I think our bench grew up a lot tonight," Couisnard said. "They came off the bench and played great tonight. It's good to have great players come off the bench like that in case we really do need them like we did tonight."

Shaun Stegall netted 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Owls, who shot 37 percent (25-of-67).