ST. LOUIS – Tekele Cotton joined the 1,000-point club and Fred VanVleet led all scorers with 13 points, as top-seed Wichita State advanced to Semifinal Saturday at the Missouri Valley Conference for the sixth straight year with a 56-45 victory over ninth-seeded Southern Illinois.

Cotton entered the day with 989 career points and reached 1,000 with 12:02 left to go on a reverse layup.

Those points also helped WSU fend off one last gasp for the Salukis, who had enough left in their legs after last night's play-in round victory over Missouri State to push the Shockers much of the way.

SIU had crept to within 41-35 moments at the 12:14 mark, but Cotton put a stop to any momentum with a pretty baseline drive. WSU pushed the lead to double-digits shortly after and kept it there the rest of the way.

WSU will take on the winner of fourth-seeded Illinois State and fifth-seeded Evansville on Saturday, beginning at 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on the MVC-TV network (Fox Sports Midwest in the Wichita area.)

No. 8/9 seeds in the MVC Tournament are now 0-19 since the tournament expanded to 10 teams back in 1997.

VanVleet finished 4-of-12 from the field for WSU (28-3) and also chipped in four assists and three steals.

Cotton tallied 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting and knocked down 5-of-6 free throw attempts. Ron Baker put up 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting.

Jalen Pendleton paced SIU (12-21) with 12 points off the bench, and Anthony Beane added 10, going 4-of-14 from the field.

WSU forced 18 turnovers with help from 10 steals. The Shockers shot just 41.7 percent but held SIU to 34.0 percent.

The Shockers never trailed in two previous meetings with SIU during the regular season but played from behind for 11 minutes of the first half.

Down 15-11, Cotton knocked down two free throws and buried a three moments later off a Baker steal to push WSU in front to stay.

That sequence also kicked off an 11-0 run, capped by a monster dunk from Shaquille Morris, as WSU led 22-15 with 4:30 to play in the half.

The Shockers took a 28-20 lead into the locker room.

Cotton is the second Shocker to join the 1,000-point club this year. Baker did it in early February. Fred VanVleet can make it a trio. He needs just 28 more points.

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

-Wichita State-