ST. LOUIS, Mo.  -- The much-anticipated return of Fred VanVleet and 14 points each from Ron Baker and Zach Brown sparked Wichita State to a slump-busting, 68-53 win over Saint Louis, Saturday night at Chaifetz Arena.

VanVleet limped through the first two games of the season with a strained hamstring, then missed the next four entirely. In his first action since Nov. 17, he looked much more like the vintage VanVleet, finishing with 11 points, seven assists, three steals and just one turnover.

Baker connected on 6-of-10 shots and snagged six rebounds for WSU (3-4), which snapped a three-game losing skid. He also logged his 119th career steal in the first half to move into a tie for 10th on the school's all-time list.

Brown went 4-for-6 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and sophomore center Shaquille Morris - making just the second start of his career - knocked down 6-of-7 from the field on his way to 12 points and six boards.

In all, nine different Shockers scored. Rauno Nurger led the bench scoring, pitching in with six points - all in the first half.

Miles Reynolds scored 14 points to lead Saint Louis (4-3 after a 4-0 start) and Austin Gillmann finished with 12.

WSU shot a season-high 48.1 percent, and finished with 19 assists on its 26 baskets while committing just nine turnovers.

WSU forced 18 SLU turnovers and converted them into 25 points, while also outscoring the host Billikens 30-14 in the paint.

The Shockers have won each of the first three meetings in a four-game series scheduled between the two programs, two of them at Chaifetz. WSU will host SLU in 2016-17.

The Shockers trailed 7-2 out of the gate before mounting an 17-3 run. They held the Billikens without a field goal for over eight minutes in that stretch. Six-straight points from Nurger grew a three-point lead to nine, at 19-10 with just under seven minutes to go in the first half.

After SLU whittled the lead to a single point near the two-minute mark, WSU scored the last six points of the half. Rashard Kelly's tip-in, just ahead of the buzzer sent the Shockers into the locker room up 32-25.

VanVleet played just five minutes in the first half after picking up two early fouls, but he was a major factor down the stretch.

Over a five-minute window to begin the second half, the senior point guard fed Morris for both a dunk and layup, picked off a pass and drove for an uncontested layup of his own, and then notched third assist on a kick-out to Baker for a three-pointer that made it a 42-25 game with 14:34 to play.

SLU would twice pull to within 13 points but could get no closer.

VanVleet connected on a trey, and Brown hit back-to-back triples for a 68-46 advantage with 3:10 remaining, giving the Shockers their biggest lead of the night.

The Billikens scored the last seven points to close the final margin to 15

The Shockers return to Charles Koch Arena on Wednesday night to take on UNLV. Tip is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
 

-Wichita State-