Box Score The Wichita State men's basketball team improved to 10-4 on the season and 1-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play with an 84-63 win over Bradley (10-6, 1-3) on Thursday night inside Charles Koch Arena.
Will Franklin had 19 points for the Braves. Daniel Ruffin was the only other BU player in double-figures with 18 points.
Phil Thomasson provided the spark for WSU early as he won the team's first tip-off of the season and connected on a baseline jumper for a quick 2-0 lead. BU countered with a 9-5 run capped by a Franklin jumper with 15:24 remaining in the opening half. It would be the Braves' last lead of the game as Sean Ogirri knocked down a three-pointer to start a 12-0 run to give WSU a 19-9 lead with 11:50 to go. The run was capped by one-handed dunk by Couisnard off of a bounce pass from Mekel.
The Shockers led by as much as 20 in the first half and took a 43-28 lead into intermission. WSU had nine assists in the opening half while BU had just one. The Braves were held to 41 percent shooting and could only muster seven rebounds in the half. The Shockers were 14-of-24 from the field including 6-of-10 from behind the arc.
“Today we just wanted to establish ourselves in the first half and play with tons of energy,” said sophomore Wendell Preadom.
BU cut the lead to 10 with a quick 5-0 run to start the second half. Back-to-back layups from Couisnard and Preadom started a 10-4 run to give WSU a 53-37 lead, four minutes into the half. A Bradley three-pointer stretched the Shocker lead to 20, 65-45, with 10:22 left.
WSU never looked back from there. Bradley put the final points on the board for WSU, his career-high fifth three-pointer, with just under a minute to play and gave the Shockers an 84-63 win.
“We were doing things right on the offensive end,” said head coach Mark Turgeon. “Defensively, Bradley is about the hardest team you'll ever have to guard and I thought we did a tremendous job guarding the three-point line.”
The Shockers finished the game shooting a sizzling 62 percent while holding the Braves to 42 percent. WSU finished the game with 19 assists, led by four from Couisnard, while BU had only five. Eight of the 11 WSU players had at least one assist.
“(Coach) sat me down this week and just talked to me about my shot selection, my penetrating and rushing shots,” said Bradley. “He said to let the game come to me. It's all about reading defenses and finding the best shot.”
WSU travels to Springfield, Mo., to face Missouri State (11-3, 1-1) on Jan. 7 at the John Q. Hammons Center. Tip-off is at 4:35 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
