Box Score HONOLULU, Hawaii – Rashard Kelly's putback with three seconds remaining in overtime lifted No. 11 Wichita State to an 80-79 overtime victory over host Hawaii Tuesday evening in semifinal action at the Diamond Head Classic.
WSU (10-1) trailed by a point with 17 seconds remaining. Fred VanVleet's three-pointer bounced off the rim, but Kelly emerged with the rebound and knocked down a short jumper for the lead.
Mike Thomas' runner miss long for Hawaii, and the Shockers celebrated a wild victory in a game that featured 11 ties and 22 lead changes.
WSU advances to Thursday's championship game against George Washington at 3:30 p.m. Hawaiian Time (7:30 p.m. Central) on ESPN2. Hawaii (9-4) will take on Colorado for third place.
Ron Baker led the Shockers with 17 points. VanVleet (13 points), Rashard Kelly (12) and Darius Carter (10) also finished in double-figures.
VanVleet collected five assists. Kelly and Carter shared the team lead with six rebounds each.
Aaron Valdes and Isaac Fleming paced Hawaii with 17 points apiece. Roderick Bobbitt scored eight points and handed out 10 assists with just three turnovers.
WSU shook off its free throw struggles, knocking down 28-of-36 at the charity stripe. That helped offset a chilly shooting night from three-point range (just 6-of-24).
Hawaii scorched the nets from three, hitting 7-of-13 in the second half and overtime.
WSU turned the ball over 11 times in the first 15 minutes, 13 seconds of play but committed just two turnovers over the final 29:47.
Carter scored five of the first seven points of the game for Wichita State, which built leads of 4-0 and 7-3 out of the gate.
Hawaii freshman Isaac Fleming helped the hosts regroup, coming off the bench to hit his first four shots on an array of drives and cuts to the hoop.
Fleming scored six straight in one stretch to give the Warriors a 14-11 edge just under eight minutes in.
The Shockers missed their first eight tries from three-point range but worked their way back through other means.
Ria'n Holland pulled up from 17 feet and swished a jumper. Less than a minute later, Baker drove the baseline for a bucket to push WSU back in front, 15-14.
Baker went to the bench with his second foul when he was whistled for a charge at the 11:31 mark, forcing WSU to play a long stretch without its leading scorer.
Fleming struck again with a three-pointer to help Hawaii regain the lead.
Hawaii took advantage of WSU's early rash of turnovers, running off six straight points to take a 23-18 lead with just over five minutes to go in the opening half.
WSU came to life soon after. Cotton blocked a shot, snagged the loose ball and went coast-to-coast for a transition layup.
On the next trip down, Darius Carter came through with a block of his own, and Cotton was fouled on the run-out. Cotton connected on a pair of free throws to slice the deficit to 23-22 at the 4:05 mark.
Zach Brown broke WSU's long three-point drought and gave the Shockers the lead back with a try that bounced several times off the rim before falling through.
Brown struck again just 90 seconds later, draining another triple from the right wing.
Fleming scored the last of his 14 first-half points on a three-pointer from the corner with just four seconds to go.
VanVleet's three-quarter court bomb at the buzzer struck the side of the rim but bounced off, and WSU hit the locker room with a 34-33 halftime lead.
Darius Carter picked up two quick fouls in the first 44 seconds of the second half – his second and third of the night – and spent the next eight minutes on the bench in foul trouble.
Hawaii opened the half with a 9-2 push.
Carter's replacement, Shaquille Morris, provided some quick offense, posting up for a bucket and two free throws, but Hawaii's Negus Webster-Chan hit back-to-back treys in the midst of that stretch to help the Warriors claim a 44-38 lead with 16:43 to play.
Cotton cut the lead in half with a three, but Valdez answered for Hawaii with one of his own. The Warriors made their first four shots of the second half, including three straight treys.
The Shockers trailed 49-42 with 14:00 to play before a quick flurry. VanVleet fed Rauno Nurger in the lane for a foul, and the freshman converted two free throw tries. VanVleet then stole the Hawaii inbounds pass and hit two freebies of his own after a Warrior foul.
Baker tied the score at 49 with a deep three. Seconds later, Kelly stole a pass near midcourt and converted two more free throws to close out a 9-0 Shocker run.
Carter returned to the lineup but picked up his fourth foul less than a minute later.
Instead of folding, WSU turned up the heat, breaking a 51-all tie with a 6-0 run, spurred on by its press.
Baker intercepted a pass and fed Kelly for a layup. Nurger blocked a shot, and VanVleet pushed the ball up court to Kelly for another transition score and a 57-51 WSU advantage with 9:40 to play in the game.
Hawaii surged back with a 9-2 to run to go up 65-63 with 5:31 left.
Cotton's three with 2:38 to go spun out, but Brown pulled down the rebound and was fouled on the putback. He hit two clutch free throws to give the Shockers a 66-65 lead.
Carter, playing with four fouls, blocked a shot in the post to preserve the lead on Hawaii's next possession, but his jump hook on the other end spun out, giving Hawaii the ball back with under 90 seconds to go.
Valdez caught a quick feed in the post and scored for a one-point lead Hawaii lead.
VanVleet dribbled around his back, penetrated and scored for WSU.
Valdez answered with a deep three-pointer with 43 seconds left to push Hawaii back in front, 70-68.
Hawaii attempted to trap Baker out on the perimeter but instead fouled him. Baker converted both free throws to tie it at 70 with 27.5 seconds left.
Hawaii called a timeout with 17.5 seconds showing to game plan a potential winner. Instead, blocked Webster-Chan's three-point attempt. Baker got off a clean look from just inside half court for the WSU win, but it landed just short off the front iron.
Instead, the teams proceeded to overtime, knotted at 70.
WSU scored the first overtime basket when Cotton threaded for a cutting Baker. After Hawaii tied it on a pair of free throws, Carter posted up and scored.
Jankovic connected on Hawaii's 10th three of the night, and Thomas added a big bucket on the next trip down.
WSU missed its next three shots and trailed 77-74 with under a minute to go. Carter drew a foul underneath and hit 1-of-2 freebies. Hawaii threw away the inbounds pass, giving the Shockers another possession.
VanVleet's triple with 34 seconds to go in overtime gave WSU a 78-77 edge. Thomas answered on the other end for Hawaii with 18 seconds to go.
That set up WSU's final possession, down 79-78. VanVleet worked the clock inside of 10 seconds before going to work. His three-point attempt was off the mark, but Kelly beat out two defenders for the rebound and the game-winning stickback.
Notes:
VanVleet (336 assists coming in) took over sole possession of eighth place on WSU's all-time assists list and moved past Cheese Johnson into sixth on the school's career steals list (126)… WSU played its second overtime game of the season and improved to 6-5 in OT under Gregg Marshall… The Shockers won their 11th straight Tuesday game… This is the fifth time in eight years under Marshall that WSU has participated in an eight-team exempt tournament bracket. The Shockers have never finished higher than fourth, until now.
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