Boxscore (PDF)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 32 points and tied a 53-year old school record by going 15-of-15 at the foul line, as Wichita State topped Evansville, 78-65, Sunday afternoon at the Ford Center.

Gregg Marshall earned his 220th win in nine seasons at WSU - now tied with Ralph Miller for the school's career mark. Marshall will look to claim the record outright on Wednesday when the Shockers host Southern Illinois.

VanVleet's previous career-best was 29, set earlier this month. The senior went 8-for-18 from the field and recorded three assists and two steals with just one turnover. His 15 free throw makes is tied for sixth on the Shockers' single-game list and matches Dave Stallworth's 15-for-15 performance against UTEP in February of 1963 for the most free throws made without a miss.

WSU took a sellout crowd of 10,034 out of the game by building a 32-21 halftime lead. The Shockers held the hosts without a field goal for a stretch of nearly nine minutes, and Evansville's leading scorer D.J. Balentine managed just three first-half points.

The Shockers (16-5, 10-0 Missouri Valley Conference) won their 11th-straight and extended their conference lead to three-games by taking out the second-place Aces (18-5, 7-3 MVC) for the second time in less than a month.

WSU led by as many as 20 points with 12:00 to go to effectively put the game away, ending Evansville's 14-game home winning streak.

Ron Baker had nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor, and had five rebounds. Conner Frankamp added 10 points, and Anton Grady snagged a team-high eight rebounds to go with five points and four blocks.

VanVleet picked up his 200th career steal early in the first half to become just the second Shocker and 17th player in MVC history to reach that milestone.

Egidijus Mockevicius had a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. D.J. Balentine added 18 points, 15 of them coming in the second half. He missed his first nine shots from the field and finished a chilly 5-of-19 for the game.

UE heated up after a miserable first half in which it shot just 23.8 percent (5-of-21) to finish at 34.8 percent. WSU shot 38.7 percent (26-of-62) but won the battle of the boards 43-35 and forced 18 Evansville turnovers.

The Shockers didn't attempt their first free throw until the final minute of the first half but were frequent visitors down the stretch on their way to a 24-for-27 effort (88.9 percent). The teams combined for 57 fouls (32 by the Shockers).

WSU logged eight of its nine blocks in the first half on its way to a season-high. Grady's four blocks were the highest individual total by a Shocker this year.

WSU returns home Wednesday night to take on Southern Illinois (18-5, 7-3 MVC) which saw its eight-game road winning streak come to an end at Northern Iowa this weekend and remains in a second-place tie with Evansville with eight games left to play.

Tip time against SIU is set for 8 p.m. CT locally on Cox Channel Kansas. Fans in the Kansas City area can catch the game on TIme Warner SportsChannel 2, and those beyond the Kansas border and outside the KC metro area can tune in on MVC-TV affiliates throughout the region, including Fox Sports Midwest.

-Wichita State-