WICHITA, Kan.-- Wichita State held Drake to its second-lowest point total of the season, overwhelming the Bulldogs with solid defense and nearly a 50 percent shooting-accuracy from the floor to seal the victory, 63-47.

Despite trading baskets for the game's opening 10 minutes, the Shockers' (10-12, 4-7) relentless defense and timely buckets quickly pushed the game out of reach after that. With just over five minutes to play, WSU held a commanding 19-point lead and never looked back.

Drake's (14-9, 5-6) sophomore guard Josh Parker led all scorers with 18 points, but his efforts wouldn't have much effect in jump starting the Bulldogs' offense. The Shockers held the Bulldogs to 30 percent from the floor?tying a season low for the visiting squad.

Meanwhile, WSU shot for a 47 percent accuracy from the floor, including a 44 percent performance from behind the arc. Freshman guard Toure' Murry led the Shockers with 18 points. Murry also grabbed six boards and dished out four assists.

Sophomore forward J.T. Durley and junior guard Clevin Hannah each chipped in 10 points. Senior forward Ramon Clemente led the contest with nine rebounds on an afternoon that the Shocks' held the rebounding edge, 38-32.

To start the second half, WSU opened the lead to 39-23 in the first three minutes with a 7-2 run, highlighted by Murry's steal of an inbounds pass, resulting in a dunk. Durley made the lead 18 with the only basket by either team over the next 1:46 with another dunk.

DU closed the gap to 15 by the 12-minute media mark. After trading baskets and free throws, the lead was 16, 46-30, with 7:106:59 mark closed it to 46-32, but a Hannah break-away layup, and subsequent trey pushed the Shocker lead back to 19 at 5:38, WSU's largest to that point in the half. left.

DU turned up its defense and turned it into points, closing the lead to 13 at the 2:42 mark with two Young free throws before a Murry driving laypup and a Ellis dunk put WSU up 59-42. A Parker trey closed it to 14 at the 1:22 point. Hawkins then took the floor-length pass in for another dunk to move the score to 61-46 to secure the win.

Drake got on the board first with trey by Jonathan Cox and took the lead until right before the first media break when back-to-back three's by Murry and Clevin Hannah gave the Shockers an 8-6 lead at the 15:35 mark of the first half. The Shockers went up 10-8 with the shot clock winding down on a Clemente bucket.

The teams traded baskets until the 12:26 mark then both went quite unitl a Durley jumper with 9:57 put WSU ahead 14-13. DU answered to take a one-point lead, 15-14, at 9:28.

Both teams saw a 17-point tie at the 7:43 mark after another two rounds of trading buckets, including a trey by WSU's Reggie Chamberlain.

Ellis put WSU up 21-18 at the 5:11 mark with a basket, then the Shockers out-scored the Bulldogs, 11-3 over the final 2:57 to take a 32-21 lead into halftime.

Murry ended the half as WSU's top scorer with eight points, while Chamberlain had six.

The Shockers are next in action Wed., Feb. 4, at Indiana State in the first meeting between the two schools this season.

-Wichita State-