Box Score The Wichita State men's basketball team dropped its third-straight game and fell to 17-12 overall and 8-9 in Missouri Valley Conference play after a 71-65 loss to Missouri State Tuesday night inside Charles Koch Arena.

Nathan Bilyeu led the way for the Bears scoring 18-points on 7-for-13 shooting from the floor. Blake Ahearn and Tyler Chaney both reached double-figures finishing with 17 and 10-points, respectively.

Seniors Kyle Wilson and Karon Bradley paced the Shockers with 17-points each. Sophomore Wendell Preadom came off the bench to tie a career-high with 10-points.

The Shockers jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first two minutes of the game fueled by a three-pointer from Bradley and layups from Ryan Martin and P.J. Couisnard. Ahearn kept the Bears in the game by hitting three three-pointers and gave MSU an 11-10 lead with 15:41 on the clock.

The first half featured two ties and 10 lead changes. WSU took the biggest lead of the half, 26-20, on a three-pointer by Wilson with seven minutes left in the half. Dale Lamberth hit a three-pointer with three seconds remaining to give the Bears a 34-33 halftime lead.

MSU started the second half ice cold going just 1-of-8 from the floor in the first seven minutes of the half. In that time the Shockers went on an 8-2 run to take a 41-36 lead. Bradley hit a three-pointer with 11:10 to go that gave WSU its largest lead of the game, 46-38.

The Bears got hot and went on a 12-2 run, capped by a Spencer Laurie three-pointer, to take a 50-48 lead with 6:29 remaining. MSU finished the game hitting 6-of-8 from the floor, including two from behind the arc.

The Shockers pulled within five, 64-59, with just under a minute to play but MSU put the game away with seven free-throws in the final 30 seconds.

WSU finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field but went just 9-of-20 from the free-throw line. The Shockers also out-rebounded the Bears 40-28. MSU shot just 42 percent from the field but hit 10 three-pointers.

“I'm just disappointed for the seniors,” said head coach Mark Turgeon. “They deserve more than they are getting this year. They're good kids and have done a lot for our program.”

The Shockers close out the regular season on Saturday as the team travels to Omaha, Neb., to face the Creighton Bluejays. Tip-off is at 4:05 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.