Wichita State 70 - 65 St. Louis
Final
  for this game

Wichita State holds off Saint Louis to stay unbeaten

Dec 2, 2013 - 2:55 AM St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Ron Baker had 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting and No. 12 Wichita State remained undefeated with a 70-65 win over Saint Louis in a seesaw affair Sunday.

Cleanthony Early and Chadrack Lufile both had 12 points and Fred VanVleet and Tekele Cotton scored 10 apiece for the Shockers (8-0), who captured the CBE Classic with Tuesday's 75-62 win over BYU. Cotton added 10 rebounds and VanVleet dished out six assists.

"I'm just glad it was a 40-minute game and not 43 because their run was coming next," Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall said.

Dwayne Evans registered 18 points to lead Saint Louis (6-2), which has dropped two of three. Jordair Jett and Mike McCall Jr. both scored 12 points and joined Evans with three steals.

"It was a game of swings. They made the last swing, which was obviously advantageous to them," Billikens head coach Jim Crews said.

The teams went back-and-forth throughout the second half, resulting in a tense finish.

Jake Barnett made 1-of-2 free throws and the Billikens trailed 66-65 with 30.1 seconds left. VanVleet then dribbled his way through the Saint Louis press before dishing to Early for a layup.

After Barnett missed a 3-pointer, VanVleet sealed Wichita State's second consecutive 8-0 start with two free throws.

Two runs for the Billikens and one significant burst by Wichita State highlighted the first half.

Saint Louis got off to a strong start, scoring the game's first eight points and grabbing an early 10-point lead at 14-4. The Billikens then went cold and the Shockers, trailing 16-7, ran off 17 straight points over an eight-minute stretch, with a Lufile layup making it 24-16 with 4:38 left.

Austin McBroom then nailed a 3-pointer to spark an 11-0 Saint Louis surge, and Rob Loe's putback at the buzzer gave the home team a 29-28 halftime lead.

Game Notes

Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the death of former Billikens head coach Rick Majerus. The team honored Majerus, who passed away at the age of 64 last Dec. 1 due to heart failure, in a ceremony at halftime ... The teams met for the first time since 1975.






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