HONOLULU, Hawaii – No. 11 Wichita State used strong starts to both halves to put away Loyola Marymount, 80-53, in quarterfinal action Monday at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
WSU (9-1) opened up a 15-point lead in the first eight minutes of action, then kicked off the second half with a 16-2 run to ice the game.
The Shockers advance to Tuesday's semifinal round to face the winner of Hawaii and Nebraska. That game is scheduled to tip at 4:00 p.m. Hawaiian time (8 p.m. Central).
Darius Carter and Tekele Cotton scored 12 points each to lead WSU. Ron Baker chipped in 11 points to go with a career-high 10 from Zach Brown, and Fred VanVleet tallied seven assists.
Eight different Shockers hit a three over the course of the game – a school record – as WSU finished 11-of-24 overall from beyond the arc. LMU (3-7) finished the game 0-for-5 from three.
Defense was also a team effort with eight WSU players recording at least one steal. WSU scored 29 points off of turnovers.
The Shockers also put up 22 second-chance points with help from 17 offensive rebounds and won the battle of the boards 32-19.
Carter grabbed a team-best eight boards, six of them on the offensive glass.
Evan Payne led the Lions with 15 points, going 9-of-10 from the foul line.
The Shockers carved out a quick 5-0 lead with buckets on two of their first three trips down the court. Tekele Cotton drained a three, and Darius Carter leaped for a rebound and a putback.
Jumpers by Payne and Egbeyani for LMU pulled the Lions to within a point.
The Shockers poked some early holes in LMU's 2-3 zone defense. Cotton knocked down another trey. Baker added one of his own moments later for a 14-4 lead.
Marshall pushed some buttons, working Bush Wamukota and Zach Brown in for early action. Brown dove for a loose ball rebound, and Wamukota finished with a layup through contact, in what would turn into a three-point play.
On the next possession, Wamukota stuck back a miss to finish out a 13-0 Shocker run.
LMU scored to break its drought, but Carter answered with a putback on a driving miss by Brown to up the score to 21-6 with 10:41 to play in the first half.
The Shockers held an 11-2 lead on the glass over the first nine minutes of play - a total that included eight offensive rebounds.
WSU led 32-18 with just under three minutes to go after another impressive sequence of offense. Carter skied for a one-handed tip. Kelly took an alley-oop feed from VanVleet for a slam, and Corey Henderson knocked down his second three-pointer of the night.
Payne collected 10 first half points for LMU, the last two coming on a one-hand tomahawk dunk in the lane, as the Lions briefly pulled to within 11 in the final 30 seconds before halftime.
VanVleet cleared a defender with a high-arching three from the corner to send WSU into the locker room up 37-23.
The Shockers were 6-of-11 from deep in the first half, while LMU came up empty on just two attempts. That and a 17-10 edge on the glass made the biggest difference. WSU got off 30 shots in the half to just 18 for the Lions.
The Shockers wasted little time adding to their lead at the start of the second half with a 16-2 run out of the gate.
Baker and Carter each connected from three. The Shockers extended some full court pressure on defense, forcing back-to-back steals for a pair of transition dunks from Cotton and Kelly. Cotton added a jumper to make it 53-25 WSU at the 14:47 mark.
WSU unloaded its bench down the stretch. Brown drove the lane for a basket and a foul. John Robert Simon scored his first points of the year on a pair of free throws, and Jared Walker added five of his own, including his first career three-pointer.
Tevin Glass drained a trey with just over 6:00 to go to stretch the Shocker lead to 70-42. Brown nailed one of his own on the next trip down for a 73-44 edge – matching the biggest of the night for WSU.
Notes:
Rashard Kelly made his first career start in place of an injured Evan Wessel… Three-pointers by eight different players bested the previous mark of seven, set on Jan. 4, 2003 against Northern Iowa… The Shockers won their fourth straight in-season tournament opener. They've won a title in each of the last two years, though each were four-team brackets. WSU has never won an eight-team tourney under Gregg Marshall.
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