Shockers fight past Indiana State 63-53 (VIDEO)

Wichita State calls it “3-2-1,” the moments when the shot clock ticks down and somebody needs to make a play.

That somebody is usually junior guard Fred VanVleet, who seems to play with a timer in his head that moves more slowly than the one used by most players. When panic seems the natural course, he stays calm.

“He’s a killer,” Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said.

VanVleet, on his 21st birthday, made several crucial plays late in No. 11 Wichita State’s 63-53 win over Indiana State at Hulman Center on Wednesday. Indiana State played an inspired second half before the Shockers cut them down with a 10-1 run late in the game. VanVleet, of course, created most of the burst.

WSU (26-3, 16-1 Missouri Valley Conference) defeated the Sycamores (14-15, 10-7) for the sixth straight time. The Shockers remained tied with No. 10 Northern Iowa in first place in the MVC and set up Saturday’s regular-season championship game in Koch Arena. Coach Gregg Marshall won his 200th game as WSU coach to become the eighth MVC coach with 200 or more wins.

Center Darius Carter led WSU with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He grabbed 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double this season. VanVleet added 15 points and five assists and Tekele Cotton 12 points and six rebounds.

Indiana State’s Khristian Smith scored 20 points, 14 in the second half.

Wednesday’s game remained in doubt when WSU led 53-49 with under four minutes to play. The Sycamores played solid defense as the shot clock ticked away with 6-foot-9 Jake Kitchell towering over VanVleet about 10 feet from the basket. VanVleet worked his way into a fallaway basket at the buzzer and a 55-49 lead with 3:26 to play.

“That kind of, I wouldn’t say deflated us, but it was one of those shots where you say ‘Dang, if we could have got that stop, we could have gotten over the hump,’” Kitchell said.

His teammates see VanVleet’s mastery of the clock often and still appreciate it.

“It’s almost like he has a clock in his vision, in his mind,” Carter said. “He always sees it. A great point guard should always be aware of the clock and he’s really good at that.”

VanVleet wanted to get to the basket before he slipped. That left him facing Kitchell without the advantage of speed on his side. He knew the switch would likely give WSU’s big man a rebounding advantage, so he pulled Kitchell away from the basket and shot.

“I just had to find a way to get it up and get it on the rim and allow some offensive opportunities on the rebound,” he said. “Those are shots I practice all the time, crazy fadeaways and all types. You never know what situation you’ll be in.”

If that basket didn’t deflate the Sycamores, the next one did. After an Indiana State turnover, VanVleet worked a pick-and-roll with Carter. He drew the defenders to him with a hesitation move and gave Carter time to cut to the rim for a pass. Carter scored and drew a foul and his three-point play gave the Shockers a 58-49 lead with 1:58 remaining.

While the Shockers executed smoothly in the final minutes, the Sycamores did not. Devonte Brown badly missed a three-pointer that led to a layup by WSU’s Ron Baker. Indiana State’s Tre Bennett threw a pass out of bound with 2:26 remaining. Kitchell was called for an offensive foul while setting a screen with 1:58 to play.

“They make you make the difficult play,” Lansing said. “We’ve got to get tougher mentally and a little more persistent on the offensive end.”

Indiana State played plenty persistent for much of the second half. It cut a 13-point deficit to five early in the second half with eight points from Smith. Then it closed to 49-48 on Kitchell’s layup with 5:57 remaining.

WSU survived that challenge. It survived a 1-for-11 shooting night by Ron Baker, who finished with three points and seven rebounds. It survived the natural tendency to look ahead to Saturday’s big game.

“We really took this game seriously,” VanVleet said. “They battled. Now that it’s over we can focus and be human like everybody else and get excited for Saturday.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2015 at 8:10 PM with the headline "Shockers fight past Indiana State 63-53 (VIDEO)."