Postgame Quotes (PDF): WSU |
Marquette
LAHAINA, Hawaii – Landry Shamet scored 12 of his 19 points after halftime, and No. 6/6 Wichita State pulled away late for an 80-66 semifinal victory in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
WSU (4-0) will take on either No. 13 Notre Dame or LSU in Wednesday's championship game (9:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2).
Shamet scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go with seven rebounds and four assists.
Conner Frankamp added 13 points and
Shaquille Morris chipped in 11.
Austin Reaves just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Rashard Kelly earned his first start of the year and flirted with a triple-double, finishing with six points, 10 rebounds and a career-high eight assists to go with three blocks. Kelly's 30 minutes were also a personal best.
As a team, WSU outshot the Golden Eagles (2-2), 54 percent to 38 percent. The Shockers held a +14 margin on the glass during the second half and finished the game with a 42-25 advantage. They doubled up Marquette in the paint, 44-22. Shocker reserves outscored their Eagle counterparts 28-5.
Marquette's Andrew Rowsey scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, and Markus Howard recorded 17 of his 25 before halftime.
Wichita State got off to a quick start in taking an early 11-5 lead behind early three-pointers from
Zach Brown and Shamet. Marquette answered back to take a one point lead, but Frankamp scored five consecutive points via a jumper and three-pointer to put WSU back up six, 18-12.
The Shockers pushed their lead to seven, 27-20, but Marquette fought back to keep within striking distance. With just five minutes left Wichita State held a 32-29 lead after the Shockers went scoreless for more than four minutes.
A tremendous hustle play from Kelly trended on social media. The senior raced from behind to thwart a wide open fastbreak layup by Marquette's Sacar Anim. Anim recovered the ball and went up for a second attempt, but Kelly again swatted the ball away.
Layups from Reaves and Morris sent the Shockers into halftime with a 41-36 lead. WSU shot 53 percent from the field, but was just 3-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Marquette outscored the Shockers by five (9-4) in the first four-plus minutes to tie the game at 45, but Wichita State had an answer. A dunk and three-pointer from
Rauno Nurger and then another slam from
Darral Willis Jr. sparked a 7-0 run. Marquette took a timeout with just over 10 minutes to go and the Shockers had their largest lead of the game, 58-48.
Frankamp then put WSU up by 12, but the Golden Eagles got back-to-back three-pointers to claw back within six, 63-57. At the final media timeout Wichita State maintained a nine point lead, 68-59.
A Shamet score followed by a one-on-one spin and score from
Austin Reaves put the game out of reach with 1:30 to go and a 76-63 lead.
