SAN DIEGO – Fourth-seeded Wichita State saw its season come to a close in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to No. 13 Marshall, 81-75, Friday at Viejas Arena.
Playing in its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament, Wichita State (25-8) entered the contest having won at least one game in five straight NCAA appearances.
Conner Frankamp's career-high 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting weren't enough to overcome the upset-minded Thundering Herd. Frankamp also tied a career high with six made three-pointers (6-for-10) in his final game as a Shocker.
Darral Willis Jr. added 13 points and eight rebounds and
Shaquille Morris finished with 12 and eight.
Landry Shamet shot just 3-of-13 from the field to finish with 11 points and a team-high eight assists.
Rashard Kelly scored only four points but grabbed 12 rebounds and dished five assists.
Take away Frankamp's 6-of-10 shooting from three and the rest of the team combined to shoot 2-for-19. Willis was the only other Shocker to convert on a shot from beyond the arc.
The Shockers finished shooting 42 percent overall, while Marshall hit 47 percent. WSU dominated the glass, 44-30, but committed 15 turnovers – 12 of them steals – leading to 27 Marshall points.
Jon Elmore scored a game-high 27 points for the Thundering Herd, while Ajdin Penava (16), C.J. Burks (13) and Jannson Williams (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers.
Wichita State started the game just 4-of-16 from the field to let Marshall take an early 16-11 lead. A three-point play from
Markis McDuffie and a spinning hook shot from Morris snapped a three-minute scoring drought to cut the deficit to one at the 9:00 minute mark.
A 6-0 spurt then pushed the Herd's lead back to seven with just six minutes remaining in the half.
With 3:51 to go, the Shockers were still shooting just 33 percent overall, including a 2-for-13 clip from beyond the arc. WSU would go 4-of-16 from long distance in the first 20 minutes.
The Shocker offense finally built some momentum, closing the first half on an 11-1 run to grab a 37-34 lead at the break. Willis started the run with a tip-in and a three from the top of the key. Frankamp's third trey of the half and a backdoor score from Shamet capped the half.
Frankamp tallied 14 points to lead the Shockers, while Marshall's Jon Elmore also added 14 to lead all scorers. Elmore scored nine of his 14 points at the free throw line to give WSU some first half foul trouble. McDuffie (3), Morris,
Austin Reaves and
Zach Brown all were forced to the bench with multiple fouls.
Despite leading at the break, Wichita State only led for a grand total of 1:43 in the first half, while Marshall held a lead for 17:01.
The first two scores of second half belonged to the Shockers to take a 41-34 lead.
Still holding a five-point lead with 14 minutes on the clock, the Herd answered with six straight points to retake the lead, 53-52.
Both teams would exchange the lead over the next couple trips before back-to-back triples from Frankamp made it 65-62 with 7:38 remaining. The teams would again trade the lead over the next three-plus minutes.
Another Frankamp jumper made it 70-69, but the Herd would not go away. Marshall went on a 9-2 run to go up 78-72 with 2:00 minutes left. Neither team would score until Frankamp's career-high tying sixth three-pointer with 45 seconds to go cut it to 78-75.
A slam off an inbounds pass gave the Herd a five-point cushion with 34 seconds left and that would be the nail in the coffin. The Shockers had three opportunities from beyond the arc, but just couldn't anything to fall.
