WICHITA, Kan. - The Wichita State men's basketball team improved to 11-6 on the season and 2-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play with a 69-56 win over Evansville (9-9, 2-5) Saturday night inside Charles Koch Arena on Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame night.

Senior Kyle Wilson led WSU with 19 points while P.J. Couisnard and Sean Ogirri also reached double-figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Matt Webster and Jason Holsinger led the Aces with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Ogirri opened the scoring for the Shockers with a three-pointer to start a 14-6 run. WSU held the Aces to single-digits until the 6:05 mark when Jay Couisnard hit a layup to make the score 22-10. A three-point play by Phil Thomasson gave the Shockers their largest lead of the half, 30-17, with 2:26 remaining. A Couisnard layup with 40 seconds left gave WSU a 34-22 led at the half.

The Shockers held the Aces to just 34 percent shooting but could only connect on 37 percent of their own attempts. Couisnard led WSU at the half with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

At halftime, former Shocker basketball star Mohamed Sharif (Kelly Pete) and former baseball standout Mike Lansing were inducted into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame. Sharif and Lansing were both presented with a plaque and spoke to the sold-out crowd.

Ogirri started the second half just as he did the first half, hitting a three-pointer to push the Shocker lead to 15 less than a minute into the second half. A layup by Brad Strickland pulled the Aces within 10, 49-39, with 9:41 left to play. Back-to-back layups by Couisnard pushed the Shocker lead to 14 and forced a UE timeout.

Couisnard's layups started a 10-3 run to give the Shockers their largest lead of the game, 17, with 5:18 to play. Wilson capped the run with two free-throws as a result of a technical foul on the UE bench. The Aces refused to go quietly and cut the lead to nine, 63-54, after an Art Stalbergs three-pointer with 3:06 to play. WSU finished the game on a 6-2 run for the 69-56 victory.

“We came into tonight just trying to forget about the past and look ahead,” said Wilson. “We still have a lot of games to play. A lot can still happen this season.”

Both squads shot well in the second half. UE shot 50 percent on 13-of-26 shooting while WSU shot 54 percent on 12-of-22 shooting. The Shockers forced 16 turnovers, nine steals, and blocked six shots. Couisnard led WSU with five assists.

“ I thought our defense was much improved,” said head coach Mark Turgeon. “We played without fouling tonight, which is a step in the right direction for us.”

 -Wichita State-