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Wichita State routs defending champ Indiana State in MVC Tournament

Mar 2, 2012 - 11:50 PM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Toure' Murry and Joe Ragland each had 14 points, as the top-seeded Wichita State Shockers dominated the eighth-seeded Indiana State Sycamores, 72-48, in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Demetric Williams added 10 points for the Shockers (27-4), who haven't won this tournament since 1987.

Wichita State, the 15th-ranked team in the country, will bring a nine-game winning streak into Saturday's semifinal game against Illinois State.

Dwayne Lathan and R.J. Mahurin ended with nine points apiece for the Sycamores (18-14), who beat Missouri State in last year's title game.

Indiana State, which defeated Southern Illinois on Thursday, was held to 26.9 percent shooting.

"Their bigs are long and athletic," Indiana State head coach Ben Jacobson said. "Their guards are strong and quick, so they're a very good defensive team. They really pressure you and get out there and extend their defense. They made more plays than we did on both ends of the court today."

The Shockers came out of the gates strong, starting the game on a 20-3 run. Ragland and Ben Smith each made three-pointers during the surge.

A 10-0 flurry by Wichita State moments later pushed the margin to 25. Murry tallied the final eight points of the surge to make it 32-7 with 4:42 left in the first half.

The Shockers took a 40-19 lead into the locker room and cruised to victory in the second half.

"It was definitely on our mind," Murry said. "It was one of the top thoughts in our mind. You know, Indiana State, the defending champion, to get to the championship, we've got to defeat the defending champion, and I thought we did a good job today. Coming out with intensity and defensively, I felt like the first one was to the floor. That was going to help us win, and I just tried to do that."

Game Notes

Wichita State leads the all-time series by a 50-28 margin...The Shockers shot 50 percent from the field and went 7-of-14 from three-point range...Indiana State's four-game winning streak in the MVC Tournament came to an end.