Des Moines, Iowa--Battling down to the final seconds, Wichita State could not knock off the Missouri Valley leading Drake Bulldogs, who defeated the Shockers, 74-69. 

The Shockers took their first lead in a conference game into halftime on a smoking hot shooting performance from guards Clevin Hannah and Toure' Murry. The pair combined for 32 of the Shockers' 40 first-half points, giving their team a 40-36 halftime advantage. This marked their first Missouri Valley halftime lead of the season for WSU.

Hannah led all scorers with 22 points, and his 6-of-6 feat from behind the arc tied the best three-point performance in Wichita State history. Murry trailed Hannah with 19 points, although just one of those points came in the second half. The Shockers won on the boards, topping the Bulldogs, 28-19.

Drake was led by Missouri Valley Player of the Year candidate Josh Young who tallied 16 points, nine of which came at the free throw line as the Shocks' defense held him to just 3-of-11 shooting.

Coach Gregg Marshall shook up his starting lineup, opting to start sophomore J.T. Durley, sophomore Graham Hatch and senior Mantas Griskenas alongside Murry and Hannah.

Murry sparked Wichita State's offense just seconds into the game. The guard nailed the Shockers' first eight points, to give his team an early advantage, 8-5.

“I liked the first half,” Coach Gregg Marshall said. “We had the right lineup. They gave us a little cushion, and they played well.”

The Shocks jumped out to a 12-5 lead before senior Jonathan Cox knocked down a three pointer to bring the Bulldogs within four. Drake's shooters would close the gap further, 16-15, before Hannah joined Murry with a hot hand.

The junior guard drilled four three-point shots in just under a five-minute stretch. Murry's three, which he followed up with an unorthodox trey when he hit all three of his free throws after being fouled on an attempt from behind the line, brought the Shockers' lead to double-digits, 34-24.

WSU shot with 71 percent accuracy through the seven-minute mark of the first half, and finished the half at 67 percent. Even more devastating to the Bulldogs was the Shockers' 70 percent first-half average from three-point land. Although lesser, Drake's shooting performance didn't lack much. The Bulldogs kept the game's offense constant, shooting for a 55 percent field-goal mark in the opening 20 minutes. By the end of the contest, Drake barely held the advantage shooting 53 percent from the floor to WSU's 50 percent.

Back-to-back Drake lay ups narrowed the Bulldogs' deficit, 34-28, but the Shockers responded immediately pushing the lead back to 10 points, 38-28. Bulldog sophomore Josh Parker refused to submit to the Shockers' first-half dominance. The guard hit back-to-back threes, the last beating the halftime buzzer, to shrink the Shockers lead heading into the break, 40-36.

Cox's dunk a little over two minutes into the second half tied the game at 40-40. Not only did it highlight a 12-2 Drake run, it put him at the 1,000-point platform for his career.

Unfazed, Hannah returned to his end of the floor to drop his fifth three of the game, returning the lead to the Shockers, 45-42. Drake, however, took advantage while WSU fell into a cold snap on the floor. After hitting 67 percent to end the first half, the Shockers started the first 10 minutes of the second half hitting just 27 percent.

In the meantime, John Michael Hall took over for the Bulldogs. The senior went on an 8-0 run by himself, putting the Bulldogs up, 56-49. Hall set a new career high with 10 points on the evening.

Despite Drake's getting hot from the floor, the Bulldogs were unable to pull away. With six minutes to play, the teams were dead even?each notching a 51 percent field-goal average.

Under the five-minute mark, Cox converted his free throw on a three-point play to hand the Shocks their largest deficit of the night, 67-59. Playing with no sense of quit, the Shockers used free throws and Hannah's sixth three of the night to put together a 6-0 run. Just over two minutes remained when Hatch tied the game with two more free throws, 67-67.

“I liked the composure of Clevin Hannah, running the team in the second half,” Marshall said.

Although WSU's defense kept Young's point contribution primarily on the free throw line, he came up big with less than two minutes to play. Young drove the lane for a lay up, drew the foul and completed the three-point play to put the Bulldogs ahead, 70-67. A pull-up jumper stretched the lead to five with less than a minute remaining.

Durley's bucket under the basket pulled the Shockers within three with less than 40 seconds remaining, but they would never get any closer. The Shockers dropped their fifth straight, 74-69.

“It's so frustrating to get so close,” Marshall said, “but there are positives.”

-Wichita State-