PEORIA, Ill. – No. 16 Wichita State withstood a cold shooting stretch and a motivated Bradley to escape Carver Arena with a 62-59, Wednesday evening.

The Shockers (20-3, 10-1 MVC) went the final 12:38 without a field goal, as a comfortable 14-point lead melted away in the closing minutes.

Bradley (7-17, 2-9 MVC) sliced the margin to 60-59 with a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining.

Fred VanVleet hit a pair of crucial free throws to push the Shocker lead back out to 62-59, and Evan Wessel stepped in front of a long inbound pass to seal the win.

Ron Baker led WSU with 14 points to move within six points of the 1,000 mark.. Tekele Cotton and Darius Carter chipped in 10 each.

Cotton grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, and Baker dished out five assists to go with four-each from VanVleet and Carter.

Tramique Sutherland led Bradley with 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Auston Barnes (13), Omari Grier (12) and Josh Cunningham (10) were also in double-figures for the Braves.

WSU missed its final eight shots over its closing stretch of 12:38 but made forward progress at the free throw line, hitting 12-of-19 over that period.

The Shockers appeared on their way to an easy road victory, leaping to a 23-10 lead at the midway point of the first half.

Five-straight points from Cotton stretched the margin to 17 – 33-16 – with just over four minutes to go before the break. WSU took a 35-22 lead into the locker room.

The Shockers hit 58.3 percent of their shots in that first half but were just 6-of-18 in the second to finish out at 47.6 percent.

Bradley hit 35.7 percent for the game but won the rebounding battle 35-31 with help from 16 offensive boards.

WSU kept pace with Northern Iowa for first place in the MVC standings with just seven games to go.

The Shockers return home for their next two, beginning Saturday with a nationally-televised battle against Missouri State on ESPN2. Tipoff at Charles Koch Arena is scheduled for just after 7:00 pm CT.