Posted on Wed, Dec. 09, 2009

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Shockers post sixth straight win

BY PAUL SUELLENTROP

The Wichita Eagle

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It didn’t matter much to Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall how his team looked defeating UMKC. After two losses the past two seasons to the Kangaroos, he just wanted to leave Municipal Auditorium a happy man.

The Shockers gave him that with a 73-52 win on Wednesday. Following recent history, UMKC made the Shockers look inelegant on offense. This season, the Shockers are good enough in other areas it didn’t matter much.

“This is a team that’s really been a thorn in our side,” Marshall said. “This win feels really good.”

The Shockers (8-1) won their sixth straight game, all by double digits. They won their second road game, doubling last season’s total. All while missing 10 of 13 threes and playing most of the game with point guard Clevin Hannah on the bench in foul trouble.

Defense and David Kyles made it work out fine. The Shockers used their height and long arms to harass shooters. UMKC (4-4) shot 34.7 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers.

“We had a lot of deflections,” Marshall said. “We had a lot of active hands.”

When the Shockers didn’t create steals, their press kept UMKC from running its offense and getting good shots.

“I think it really affected them, because they got real tired and they couldn’t finish a lot of their layups,” WSU guard Toure Murry said.

UMKC made five shots in the first half and trailed 34-22. WSU held the Kangaroos to three points in the first 6:28 of the second half, time to build its lead to 45-25.

“We settled for too many jump shots,” UMKC coach Matt Brown said. “They were physical, a very, very physical team and bumped us off a lot of our cuts.”

Kyles came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points, 13 in the second half. He also contributed four steals. UMKC’s scrappy, changing defenses seemed to take almost every other Shocker out of rhythm.

Not Kyles.

He started the second half, with Hannah saddled with three fouls, and scored seven straight points to push WSU’s lead to 47-27. UMKC made a modest rally later, again with Hannah on the bench, to cut the margin to 15 points with 4:39 to play.

Kyles swished back-to-back threes and WSU soon led by 20 on its way to a 21-point win.

Hannah picked up three fouls in the first half, getting two in a span of 21 seconds. He got the third while sub Demetric Williams waited for him at the scorers table. Marshall kept him on the bench until 11:36 remained in the game. He picked up his fourth foul with 4:36 to play and the Shockers leading 59-44.

Marshall saved him as long as he could, knowing he would need Hannah in the final minutes.

“I knew at the end it was going to get helter-skelter and they were going to press and trap,” Marshall said.

Check Paul Suellentrop’s Shocker blog at blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves. Reach him at 316-269-6760 or psuellentrop@wichitaeagle.com.