SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Markis McDuffie scored 10 of his team-high 16 points over one three-minute stretch late in the first half, and Wichita State turned an early 11-point deficit into a 78-62 romp, Wednesday evening at Missouri State.
 
The Shockers (11-5, 5-0 Missouri Valley Conference) notched their sixth-straight victory and extended their series winning streak against MSU (6-11, 2-3 MVC) to 11-in-a-row, dating back to 2010.
 
The 6-foot-8 freshman, McDuffie led both the scoring and rebounding for WSU, connecting on 8-of-9 attempts from the field to go with a new career-high nine boards.
 
Conner Frankamp drilled four second-half three-pointers on his way to 14 points, and Ron Baker added 14 of his own.
 
WSU finished with a season-high 20 assists (led by Baker's seven and Fred VanVleet's eight) while committing 11 turnovers. Two of those giveaways came in the final 60 seconds of the game, after the regulars had taken a seat.
 
WSU held a commanding 49-29 advantage on the boards – its most lopsided margin since a plus-21 effort against Saint Louis in December of 2014.
 
MSU led 15-4 just six minutes in and held a 22-13 edge at the 7:03-mark of the first half on an Obediah Church dunk. But from there, it was all Shockers.
 
Baker hit a three, Rashard Kelly dunked and Frankamp cashed in a fast-break layup to quickly the slice the gap to 22-20.
 
McDuffie supplied most of the firepower over the next three minutes, cashing in five field goals to give WSU its first lead. He did much of his damage inside, as the Shockers outscored the Bears 30-10 in the paint in the first half (46-14 for the game).
 
Up 37-36 at the break, WSU scored the first 11 points of the second half for a 48-36 advantage at the 15:15-mark.
 
Three Frankamp treys over a stretch of four minutes, plus another triple from Wessel spaced the lead out to 18.
 
WSU shook off a rough 2-of-14 first-half effort from beyond the arc to hit 7-of-14 in the final period.
 
Frankamp –- who scored in double digits for the second consecutive game -- knocked down his fourth three-ball of the half for a 69-48 edge with just under 8:00 to go. The sophomore is 13-of-25 from deep (.520) in five MVC games this year.
 
The Shockers led by as many as 23 points in the last 90 seconds before MSU rallied to cut the final margin to 16.
 
WSU returns home Sunday, Jan. 17 to take on Indiana State. The Sycamores are part of a three-way tie for second place at 4-1 – one game back of the Shockers. The 3:00 pm tipoff can be seen on ESPN3.
 

-Wichita State