WICHITA, Kan. - Led by Ron Baker's 15 points, the Wichita State men's basketball team defeated Illinois State 70-62 on Sunday night inside Charles Koch Arena. Four Shockers scored in double figures in the victory.

Fred VanVleet added 12 points, six rebounds and six assists. Darius Carter and Tekele Cotton scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Baker connected on a layup off an interior pass from Darius Carter to open the scoring for Wichita State and then Carter's jump-hook in the paint made the score 4-2 Wichita State at the 18:44 mark.

After Illinois State pulled ahead by one with a shot from behind the arc, Evan Wessel answered for the Shockers with a three that hit the front rim, bounced off the backboard and dropped. His shot from long distance gave Wichita State a 10-8 advantage at the first media timeout.

Henderson's three with 12:57 remaining in the first half stretched the Wichita State lead to 14-8 and capped 7-0 run by the Shockers.

The Redbirds cut the Wichita State lead down to four at the 7:52 mark, but a layup by Baker and a free-throw from Rashard Kelly pushed the Shockers back up by seven, 23-16 with a little less than six minutes left in the half.

The two teams went scoreless for more than three minutes before two free throws from Cotton ended the scoring drought for Wichita State. Then, after Ron Baker connected on a jumper, Cotton used a shot fake to step into a two-point shot as the 35-second clock expired. The senior's mid-range jumper gave the Shockers a 29-23 lead at the break.

Baker led the scoring for Wichita State in the first half with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in a team-high 19 minutes. As a team, the Shockers shot 11-for-23 (.478) from the floor and held Illinois State to 8-of-21 (.381) shooting. Wichita State out-rebounded the Redbirds 16-10 and forced nine turnovers.

Baker continued his scoring, hitting a three 14 seconds into the second half to give his team a nine point advantage, 32-23. Five minutes later, Baker drove the length of the floor for a layup to put the Shockers back up six, 38-32.

Illinois State continued to cut into the lead, but a VanVleet two-point jumper off the dribble kept the Redbirds at bay and put the Wichita State lead at 40-36 with 14:23 remaining in the game.

With its lead at one, Wichita State rattled off six-straight points, capped by a Cotton layup that forced an Illinois State timeout at the 10:15 mark.

Five minutes later, the Redbirds had cut into the Shocker lead again, but another spurt by the Shockers, again capped by a bucket by Cotton gave Wichita State room to breathe, as they went up by seven, 55-48.

VanVleet hit a three of his own and Shaq Morris connected on a layup with a little less than three minutes remaining to put the Shocker advantage at 62-55. Wichita State sealed the game down the stretch with free throws and went on to win 70-62.

Wichita State shot 23-for-44 (.523) for the game and held Illinois State to 19-of-52 (.365) shooting.

The Shockers will next play host to Bradley on Wed., Jan. 7 inside Charles Koch Arena. The game will be televised on Kansas 22.

Purchase all your Shocker merchandise at the official Wichita State Team Store.