WICHITA -- A 10-0 run to start the second half helped to propel the Wichita State University men's basketball team to an 87-52 non-conference win over Alcorn State University Monday night in Charles Koch Arena.
Five Shockers scored in double figures led by Aaron Ellis with 14. Garrett Stutz tallied a double-double with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds while Toure' Murry notched 13 points and four assists.
Gabe Blair finished with 12 points off the bench for the Shockers. David Kyles had 11 points in the win.
JaMarkus Holt led the Braves with 13 points. Ian Francis registered 10 points and four rebounds for ASU.
Alcorn State committed four turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. The Shockers capitalized on the miscues to go up 8-2 as Ellis and Hatch contributed to the WSU offensive attack.
Alcorn State shot only 1-of-6 from the floor early in the first half and went almost four minutes between buckets. Keith Searcy dropped in a pair of free-throws for the Braves to cut the WSU lead to 10-4 only to see Garrett Stutz slam down a dunk on the Shockers next possession.
Alcorn State slowly chipped away at the WSU advantage as the Braves moved to only four points of tying the contest on back-to-back baskets from Starks and Brandon Rogers. Another ASU turnover led to a Hannah layup off an assist from Murry to push the Shockers back up by six (20-14). Ellis followed with a layup and following a Murry long ball the Shocker lead ballooned to 11 with 8:20 remaining in the first half (25-14).
Wichita State continued to command the scoreboard for the rest of the first half as Alcorn State recorded 19 turnovers before the break with the Shockers scoring 21 points off of those ASU errors.
Ellis had a team-high 11 points at the half on 5-of-7 shooting from the field while Stutz came off the bench to pour in eight points while pulling down eight boards.
Francis led the Braves with seven points and three rebounds.
The Shockers continued to dominate the offensive side of the glass in the second half as WSU scored 10 straight points before the Braves got on the board on a basket by Jamar Ragland.
Hannah gave the Shockers their biggest lead of the game on a layup (57-26) at the 15:01 mark with ASU countering with a bucket from Starks. The back-and-forth battle ensued for the next six minutes until the Braves were able to muster a small comeback, climbing back into the game on a Tony Eackles three and baskets from Holt and Shaunvanta Ingram.
Two points from the charity stripe by Kenny Manigault got the Shockers back up by 26. WSU then put the game out of reach as four points from Durley and another pair from Manigault gave the Shockers a 79-45 lead with just over five minutes left to play.
WSU benefitted from 28 Alcorn State turnovers to pile up 36 points. The Shockers shot 47 percent from the floor (18-for-41) in the game compared to only 37 percent for the Braves (20-of-53). The home team also received 41 points from their bench compared to 18 for Alcorn State.
Starks had eight points and 10 rebounds for Alcorn State.
Hannah had nine points and eight assists in his first home game of the season.
Coming up next for Wichita State is the Tigers of Texas Southern on Thursday, Dec. 3. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.
