National Basketball Association
Wichita St. 81, Evansville 67
When: 3:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 1, 2014
Where: Charles Koch Arena, Wichita, Kansas
Officials:
# Edward Crenshaw, # Tim Fitzgerald, # John Moore
Attendance:
10506
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 3 Wichita State 81, Evansville 67: Fred VanVleet had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Shockers stretched their nation-long winning streak to 23 by rallying to defeat the visiting Aces in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Ron Baker added 14 points and Cleanthony Early contributed 13 points and eight rebounds for Wichita State (23-0, 10-0), which overcame a 15-point first-half deficit. Tekele Cotton scored 12 points as the Shockers improved to 13-0 at home.
D.J. Balentine scored 26 points for Evansville (10-13, 3-7), which dropped to 2-9 on the road. Balentine, who leads the conference in scoring, was 11-of-21 from the field and made three 3-pointers.
The Shockers finished the first half with a 25-4 burst to turn the 15-point deficit into a 39-33 halftime lead and increased the advantage to 53-41 on Cotton’s 3-pointer six-plus minutes into the second half. A 3-pointer by Baker made it 69-52 with 6:12 to play and Wichita State cruised to the finish.
Evansville made its first eight shots from the field while taking an early 19-8 lead and extended it to 29-14 on a basket by Blake Simmons with under nine minutes left in the half. VanVleet scored the final six as the Shockers rolled off 11 straight to get back into the game and finally inched ahead at 35-33 on Early’s 3-pointer with 1:11 left.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Wichita State is 10-0 in Missouri Valley play for the first time in school history. … Balentine reached the 20-point mark for the 16th time this season while raising his average to 23.1. … The Shockers collected 17 offensive rebounds and held a 40-29 edge on the boards.
Top Game Performances
| Evansville |
|
Wichita St. |
|
D.J. Balentine 26 |
Scoring |
Ron Baker 14 |
|
Duane Gibson 7 |
Assists |
Fred VanVleet 5 |
|
David Howard 5 |
Rebounds |
Cleanthony Early 8 |
|
Duane Gibson 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Fred VanVleet 6 |
|
David Howard 2 |
Steals |
Ron Baker 2 |
|
David Howard 2 |
Blocks |
Kadeem Coleby 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Evansville
|
67 |
48.1 |
5-11 |
10-18 |
17 |
22 |
3 |
8 |
11 |
| Wichita St.
|
81 |
45.5 |
7-19 |
24-33 |
10 |
35 |
5 |
7 |
11 |
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