Box Score Peoria, Ill.-The Wichita State's men's basketball team (8-6,1-2) used a second half surge to defeat Bradley (7-8, 0-3), 80-73, and picked up its first conference win of the season Saturday night in Peoria, Ill.
Gal Mekel and P.J. Couisnard led the Shockers with 19 points each. Phil Thomasson followed with 15. Couisnard and Ramon Clemente brought down eight rebounds a piece. Mekel picked up 10 of his points from the free throw line.
Bradley's starting guard trio of Jeremy Crouch (19), Andrew Warren (19) and Sam Maniscalco (11) combined for 49 points to pace the Braves offensively. Crouch also dished out a career-best nine assists.
The Shockers trailed by 10 with 3:07 left in the first half and overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to halt their brief two-game losing streak.
The Shockers outrebounded the Braves 38-22 and shot 64 percent on the night. WSU scored 51 points in the second half, compared to Bradley's 36.
The Shockers needed the hot shooting and board work to overcome 25 turnovers. Bradley's pressure forced the Shockers into 17 first-half miscues, keying a 37-29 halftime lead as the Braves outscored WSU 14-3 in points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes. The Braves were unable to build a bigger cushion, however, due to their cold shooting. Although Bradley had 21 more first-half field goal attempts than Wichita State, the Braves were a chilly 14-of-37 (.378) from the floor.
While Bradley continued to struggle with its shot in the second half, making just 8-of-21 attempts (.381), Wichita State cleaned up its ball handling and truly heated up on the offensive end by making 18-of-26 (.692) field goal attempts in the period.
The Shockers quickly erased their halftime deficit by hitting the Braves with a 13-3 run to start the half. Couisnard's 3-pointer, four minutes into the half, knotted the score at 40-40 and Mekel's two free throws on the next possession gave Wichita State its first lead, 42-40, since it held a 6-5 advantage.
After missing his first seven 3-point field goal attempts of the game, Crouch hit five of his next six attempts from behind the arc, including consecutive tries that helped pull the Braves into a 46-46 tie with 13:56 left. But Wichita State countered with a 20-6 outburst to take a game-high 14-point lead, 66-52, with 6:42 left.
Bradley launched one more attack, starting with two more Crouch triples, and pulled to within 71-69 on a Warren free throw with 1:47 remaining, but Mekel (5-6) and Thomasson (2-2) combined to make 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the last 1:13 and Thomasson ended the game with a breakaway slam to hold off the home side.
Wichita State travels to Missouri State on Tuesday, Jan. 8, to take on the Bears at 6:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Fans can also listen live on KNSS 1330 or through http://www.shockerradio.com.
-Wichita State-
