Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Shaquille Morris scored 21 points, Conner Frankamp added 18 and No. 21 Wichita State beat Missouri State 78-63 on Saturday in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
Markis McDuffie added 15 points for the second-seeded Shockers (29-4), who advanced to the championship game for the fourth time in eight seasons. They will play top-seeded Illinois State for the title on Sunday.
Wichita State last won the MVC Tournament in 2014.
Sixth-seeded Missouri State (17-15), which upset No. 3 seed Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals, got 20 points from Jarred Dixon and 13 from Alize Johnson.
Wichita State beat Missouri State by 19 points a week earlier and has won 15 straight meetings with the Bears. Missouri State last beat Wichita State in 2011.
The Shockers followed up a slow start in the quarterfinals Friday with another one Saturday, missing nine of their first 10 field-goal attempts as Missouri State scored the first nine points of the game and led 12-2.
Wichita State led by as many as 10 in the first half, but Missouri State used a 7-0 run over the final 2:21 to trim the margin to 37-34.
The Shockers pulled away in the second half behind Morris, who had 16 points and six rebounds in 13 minutes. Wichita State, which eventually opened an 18-point bulge, made all 14 of its free throws after halftime.
BIG PICTURE
The Shockers improved to 4-4 in MVC Tournament semifinal games under coach Gregg Marshall. Wichita State is 1-2 in MVC championship games during that span.
UP NEXT
Wichita State will meet fellow Missouri Valley Conference co-champion Illinois State (27-5) in the championship game. The teams split two regular-season matchups, and both went 17-1 in conference play. Illinois State got the No. 1 seed based on RPI as the tiebreaker.
