WICHITA, Kan.- Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 27 points and tied a career-high with four three-point field goals to lead the Wichita State men's basketball team past Loyola 58-47 on Wednesday night inside Charles Koch Arena.
Ron Baker added 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 3-for-6 from three-point land. Tekele Cotton contributed six points and seven rebounds in the Shocker victory.
A VanVleet lay-in started the scoring for Wichita State at the 17:16 mark, and a minute later, a Cotton put-back dunk gave the Shockers a 6-4 advantage. VanVleet's transition three put the score at 10-6 Wichita State just before the 12-minute media timeout.
VanVleet continued his offensive output with a jumper at the free throw line before Loyola tied the game at 12 with a three-pointer of their own. Cotton put the Shockers back ahead with a layup at the 8:20 mark to give his team a 14-12 advantage.
Three minutes later, Tevin Glass put himself on the scoreboard with a tip-in of a missed shot to put
the score at 17-16 Wichita State. Baker scored his first points of the game with 1:04 left in the first half off a jumper at the free-throw line. VanVleet nailed his third three of the half as time expired to give the Shockers a 29-23 lead going into the locker room.
VanVleet led all scorers at the half with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Tekele Cotton added six points and three assists, as Wichita State forced eight turnovers in the half.
Baker connected on a three early in second half to stretch the Shocker lead to 32-23 at the 18:31 mark. Glass then hit a shot from behind the arc as well to answer a two-point bucket by the Ramblers.
With a little more than 11 minutes to go in the game, Baker drove the floor and dunked the ball in transition to give the Shockers a 38-30 lead.
VanVleet and Baker hit back-to-back three's late in the game to put the score at 49-39 and seal the win for Wichita State.
The Shockers went on to win 58-47 and out-rebounded the Ramblers 33-27. Wichita State shot 22-for-54 (.407) for the game, including 8-for-18 (.444) from three-point range.
Wichita State will now head to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a game against Northern Iowa on Sat., Jan. 31. The game is set to tip at 3 p.m. on ESPN2.
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-WICHITA STATE-