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No. 19 Wichita State routs Drake

Feb 26, 2012 - 1:32 AM Wichita, KS (Sports Network) - Ben Smith netted 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including four three-pointers as No. 19 Wichita State closed out its regular season schedule with an 81-58 thumping of Drake at Charles Koch Arena on Saturday.

Garrett Stutz had 15 points and five rebounds, while Toure' Murry contributed 14 points and seven rebounds for the Shockers (26-4, 16-2 MVC) who have won eight straight contests heading into the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

David Kyles dropped in 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Demetric Williams chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds in the victory.

"We got out to a nice lead there in the first half, we just had to finish it out," Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall said. "It was a great way to finish out the season, with that type of positive experience for our seniors."

Ben Simons drained a career-high seven treys en route to a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs (16-14, 9-9) and Rayvonte Rice finished with 18 points, while Jeremy Jeffers donated 12 points in defeat.

Wichita State came out of the gates on fire with a 12-1 run to begin the game. Simons finally stopped the run with a trey and drained three more from beyond the arc during a 12-3 Drake run which cut the deficit to 15-13 with 12 minutes to play in the first half.

The Shockers, though, answered the Bulldogs run with a 12-2 burst of their own to build the lead up to 27-15 with just over six minutes to play in the opening half.

A three-point play by Rice pulled the Bulldogs within four, 29-25, but again the Shockers padded their lead, closing the half by scoring the final seven points to take a 36-25 advantage into the locker room.

Simons drained a three less than three minutes into the second half to pull the Bulldogs within 39-33, but a pair of Kyles free throws and two easy buckets from Murry pushed the Wichita State lead back to double-digits at 45-33 with 15:42 to play.

Wichita State led by double-digits the rest of the way en route to the easy win.

"I thought we did a decent job defensively in the first half," Drake head coach Mark Phelps said. "We just had some stretches there where we didn't get scoring from guys."

Game Notes

The Bulldogs were one of two MVC teams to down Wichita State this season when they knocked off the Shockers, 93-86 in overtime on January 28...The Shockers shot 44.6 percent from the floor, while holding the Bulldogs to just 35.6 percent...Wichita State had the better of the play on the glass, outrebounding Drake, 38-26...Despite the loss, Drake finished with a winning record for the second time in the last four years.