CHICAGO – Landry Shamet and Conner Frankamp scored 16 points each and Wichita State wore down Loyola's explosive offense in the second half for an 81-64 victory, Sunday afternoon at Gentile Arena.
 
A Shocker team that ranks in the top-five nationally in field goal percentage defense held the nation's sixth-best shooting team to 24 percent in the second half and a season-low 34.5 percent overall.
 
Loyola (16-11, 6-8 MVC) failed to reach 40 percent for the first time in 22 games. WSU has held its last seven opponents under the 40.
 
Wichita State (24-4, 13-1 MVC) won its eighth straight game and kept pace with co-leader Illinois State atop the MVC standings with four regular season contests remaining. The Shockers travel to Southern Illinois on Wednesday.
 
Frankamp scored all 16 of his points in the second half. He finished 7-of-13 from the field and 2-of-4 from deep, while collecting four rebounds and four assists.
 
Shamet tallied 11 of his 16 in the first half and flirted with a triple-double with seven rebounds and seven assists with just one turnover. The Kansas City native also tied Randy Burns' freshman record of 16-consecutive games with a three-pointer.
 
Shaquille Morris finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards to go with a pair of blocks. Markis McDuffie and Rashard Kelly added 11-each.
 
Clayton Custer paced Loyola with 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting. He was 1-of-7 from three. Milton Doyle collected 13 points and five assists but also struggled from the field at 3-of-14.
Aundre Jackson tacked on 15.
 
Jackson -- the MVC leader in field goal percentage – was 7-for-7 against the Shockers in Wichita back in January and hit his first five shots in Sunday's rematch.
 
The unofficial turning point came near the six-minute mark of the first half when Morris blocked Jackson's layup attempt. Jackson scored just two more points over the final 26 minutes, and the Ramblers – who had made 12 of their first 23 shots to that point -- hit 8-of-35 the rest of the way (.229).
 
Shamet rattled home a 15-footer less than a minutes later to give the Shockers the lead for good. Zach Brown followed with a three-pointer to make it a 34-29 game with 4:31 to go in the half.
 
WSU led by seven on Kelly's slam dunk with 13 seconds showing on the clock, but Loyola responded with a three-point play to shave the lead to 40-36 at halftime.
 
Loyola turned eight Shocker turnovers into six baskets in the first half, but WSU played with much greater focus down the stretch.
 
Within the first five minutes of the second period, the lead grew to 11, 53-42. Shamet hit a three and then fed Frankamp for another long jumper. The latter helped jump start Frankamp, who had taken just one shot in the first 20 minutes but knocked down 7 of his 12 second-half attempts.
 
A Shocker 6-0 spurt made it 59-46 as play neared the 10-minute mark. Loyola would fight back to pull within seven, but Wichita State answered with a 9-0 run to go up 70-54 with 5:00 remaining. A Frankamp trey capped the run.
 
Frankamp would add another three and a mid-range jumper late and then a C.J. Keyser score gave the Shockers their final margin of 81-64. WSU led by as many as 19 in the second half.
 
Up Next:
The Shockers return to the Valley road Wednesday evening at Southern Illinois (14-12, 7-6 MVC). The 6 p.m. CT tip will air on Cox Channel Kansas.
 
Notable:
*After being outrebounded by five in Wichita, WSU finished plus-15 on the glass (42-27).
*The Shockers (.528) topped 50 percent from the field for the sixth time in MVC play and for the 10^th time overall this season.
*WSU has won 11-straight against Loyola, last losing in 1974. The Shockers have captured all nine meetings since 2013 when the Ramblers joined the MVC.
*The Shockers picked up their 20^th double-figure win of the season. They've won 20-or-more games by double-digits in each of the last seven years.
*WSU's eight-game MVC winning streak is now one of the 10-longest in school history (tied for ninth). Six of the 10 streaks have come under Marshall.
*The Shockers topped 80 points for the 19^th time in 27 games. That's tied for the second-most by a WSU team, alongside the 1980-81 and 1965-66 teams. Gene Smithson's first Shocker squad holds the record with 22 in 1978-79.
*WSU is 8-1 on the road this year and 39-6 over the last four seasons.

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