CARBONDALE, Ill. – Conner Frankamp scored all 14 his points in the second half to help visiting Wichita State pull away for an 87-68 victory at Southern Illinois on Wednesday evening.
 
Up 39-35 at the 18:26-mark, the Shockers exploded for 34 points over the next 10 minutes to build a 27-point lead. Frankamp started the avalanche with back-to-back-to-back threes.
 
WSU (24-4, 14-1 Missouri Valley Conference) extended its winning streak to nine games and kept pace with Illinois State atop the standings with just three regular season contests remaining.
 
The Shockers have won the last nine meetings with the Salukis, including four-straight in Carbondale (a program best).
 
Frankamp led a balanced group of five double-figure scorers with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Landry Shamet added 13 of his own on 5-of-7 shooting and dished out six assists with one turnover.
 
Shamet has connected on a three-pointer in 17-straight games – the longest ever by a Shocker freshman – and Frankamp upped his own streak to 14.
 
Markis McDuffie finished with 13 points and three steals. He and Rashard Kelly shared the team-lead with nine rebounds-each. Rauno Nurger scored 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench.
 
Shaquille Morris (12 points, 7 rebounds) swatted two shots to move into the top-10 on WSU's career blocks list. His 88 career blocks are tied with Jamar Howard (2001-05) for tenth.
 
Mike Rodriguez paced Southern Illinois (14-14, 7-8 MVC) with 15 points, and Sean O'Brien tacked on 14 points with eight rebounds.
 
WSU has held its last eight opponents under 40 percent from the field after limiting SIU to 37.8 percent for the night. The Salukis were a miserable 1-of-13 from three.
 
The Shockers topped 50 percent in both halves, finishing at 55.6 percent overall. They were 10-of-16 from three (.600).
 
WSU won the battle of the boards, 44-27, finishing with more offensive rebounds (16) than SIU had defensive rebounds (14).

The Shockers raced out to a 21-11 lead just nine minutes in after hitting nine of their first 12 attempts from the field. McDuffie nearly outscored SIU by himself with nine points at the second media timeout.

Over the next four minutes, SIU cut the deficit to just three, 23-20, behind a 9-2 run. Back-to-back thunderous slams from Shamet and Morris snapped the brief Shocker drought.

Southern Illinois remained within striking distance for the rest of the half after it looked Wichita State was going to run away with a win in the first few minutes. The Shockers went into the break with a 37-33 lead behind McDuffie's 11 first half points.

Wichita State finished the half shooting 53 percent, while holding the Salukis to only 33 percent. SIU was able to stay in the game by going 10-for-10 at the free throw line and forcing eight Shocker turnovers.

A 10-2 run to open the second half put WSU back in front by double-digits, forcing a Saluki timeout. Frankamp spearheaded the run with consecutive three-pointers.

Another Frankamp triple and a dunk from Shamet gave Wichita State its largest lead to that point, 53-37, with 15 minutes remaining. The Shockers' lead got up to 20 near the 12:00 mark after Nurger found a wide open Kelly underneath for a layup.

SIU needed another timeout after Daishon Smith scored following his own miss and a C.J. Keyser three-point basket put the Shockers up 69-44. Shamet's second three of the game made it 78-59 at the final media timeout.

Up Next
The Shockers return home for back-to-back games beginning with Northern Iowa Saturday morning at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.

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