NEW ORLEANS, La. – Dexter Dennis sank a corner three with no time on the clock to give Wichita State an 82-79 victory over Tulane Saturday evening at Devlin Fieldhouse.
 
Tied at 79, WSU inbounded under the Tulane basket with 0.5 seconds on the clock. Dennis flashed to the near corner, caught a pass from Ricky Torres and uncorked the game-winner a split-second before time expired.
 
It was the third game-winning buzzer-beater for WSU (17-13, 10-8 American) in the last five weeks. The Shockers won for the ninth time in 11 tries following a 1-6 start to conference play.
 
The victory secures the No. 6 seed in next week's American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship. WSU will face No. 11 seed ECU in Thursday's first round, beginning at just after 9 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
 
Samajae Haynes-Jones scored a team-high 15 points for WSU on 3-of-8 three-point shooting. Markis McDuffie added 14 points, four assists and two steals. Jaime Echeique scored all 13 of his points in the second half and finished with a team-high six rebounds. Jamarius Burton tacked on 11 points and a team-high five assists with just one turnover.
 
The shot overshadowed a rough evening for Dennis, who was playing just over an hour down the road from his hometown of Baker, La. In front of a large contingent of friends and family. In the first 39 minutes, 59.5 seconds, the freshman was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.
 
Caleb Daniels scored 31 of his game-high 36 points in the second half for Tulane (4-26, 0-18). He hit 11-of-17 from the field and 12-of-14 free throws. Teammate Samir Sehic chipped in 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go with eight rebounds. He hit all seven shots from inside the ac.
 
The Shockers finished at 45.2 percent (6-of-24 from three) and connected on 20-of-27 free throws. Tulane shot 49.1 percent (8-of-17 from distance) but committed 16 turnovers to WSU's 10.
 
WSU forced 12 Tulane turnovers on six steals in the first half to build a 37-28 halftime lead. McDuffie (nine points), Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (eight) and Haynes-Jones (seven) led the Shocker scoring.
 
The Green Wave recovered to shoot 55 percent down the stretch while knocking down 14-of-15 free throw attempts.
 
Daniels did much of the damage, hitting 9-of-10 shots from the field (2-of-3 from deep) and all 11 free throw attempts. His 31-points marked the highest-scoring half by an individual Shocker opponent in 12 seasons under Gregg Marshall.
 
The second half featured wild momentum swings. WSU led by nine at the break. Tulane outscored the Shockers 27-9 over the first 10 minutes of the second half to build its own nine-point cushion. WSU scored 36 points over the final 10:17.
 
Down 60-52 at the 8:52-mark, WSU used a 9-0 run to take the lead back. Erik Stevenson supplied five points, including a three-pointer, to get things started.
 
Both sides delivered clutch baskets down the stretch. Haynes-Jones' three put the Shockers ahead 73-70 with 2:23 to go, but Daniels answered with one of his own on the Green Wave's next possession.
 
Daniels sank three free throws for a 76-74 lead with 1:36 left, but McDuffie tied it with a twisting layup just eight seconds later.
 
Tulane turned it over, and WSU worked it inside to Echenique for a basket and a foul. The junior's three-point play made it a 79-76 Shocker lead with only 52 seconds showing.
 
Daniels stepped up for Tulane with a three-point play of his own to knot the game at 79 with just 33 seconds to go.
 
With a three-second differential between shot clock and game clock, WSU stalled for a last-second opportunity.  Haynes-Jones' three-pointer missed the mark. Both sides scrambled for the loose ball, and WSU was awarded possession after a Tulane player touched it out of bounds, setting up Dennis' heroics.
 

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 NOTABLE:
***WSU reached the 17-win mark for the tenth consecutive year and for the 16^th time in 17 seasons.
***The Shockers are four games over .500 for the first time this year.
***WSU has won three-straight on the road and four of its last five.
***The Shockers improved to 3-0 all-time against Tulane.
***WSU won in New Orleans for the first time since the 1981 Sweet 16 when Mike Jones' jumper with two seconds remaining beat Kansas.
***WSU swept four of its seven home-and-home series in 2018-19 (SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, ECU).
***Gregg Marshall is now three wins shy of the 500-mark for his career.
***Since 2014, the Shockers are 7-0 on other teams' senior nights.
 

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UP NEXT:
The Shockers travel to Memphis' FedExForum next week for the 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship. WSU will be the No. 6 seed and open with a rematch against No. 11 seed ECU. The Shockers won both regular season matchups against the Pirates. Tipoff is set for just after 9 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The winner will face Temple the following evening in the tournament's quarterfinal round