Late three-pointer by Samajae Haynes-Jones pushes Shockers past Jacksonville State

No one stood within 10 feet of him, but Samajae Haynes-Jones couldn’t help himself and put the basketball on the floor.

It must be the senior from Wichita just feels more comfortable shooting off the bounce. Whatever it did, it helped recalibrate Haynes-Jones and helped him deliver the biggest shot of Wichita State’s 69-65 victory over Jacksonville State on Wednesday at Koch Arena.

Dexter Dennis skied over two defenders to grab an offensive rebound, then kicked out to Haynes-Jones for a three-pointer to push WSU’s lead to four points with 1:43 remaining. The Shockers (5-4) emerged victorious to win their third straight game at Koch Arena and end a five-game winning streak by Jacksonville State (5-4).

Haynes-Jones scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while Jaime Echenique added 12 points and seven rebounds and Markis McDuffie chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds. After suffering its worst rebounding margin against Oklahoma over the weekend, WSU bounced back to outrebound JSU by 11, 44-33.

After his crucial offensive rebound, Dennis again came up big on the defensive end blocking JSU’s next shot attempt to start a run-out for WSU that ended with Ricky Torres being fouled. He missed both of his free throws with 1:01 remaining, but Echenique grabbed the offensive rebound and WSU burned 30 more seconds before Markis McDuffie was fouled on a three-point shot with 34 seconds left.

McDuffie, who struggled shooting from the field in a 3-for-15 performance, made all three of his free throws to give WSU a 67-60 lead. There were some nervous moments in the final 35 seconds, like when JSU scored quickly then forced a turnover with its press.

After trailing for more than 30 minutes, JSU, a team that rarely takes or makes three-pointers, rallied to take its first lead of the game, 58-57 with 6:12 remaining, behind its outside shooting.

Torres ended his oh-for season from beyond the arc, making his first three in 19 tries to give WSU a 57-49 lead, but JSU reeled off a 9-0 run behind three jumpers and a Burnell go-ahead bucket inside.

JSU would threaten early in the second half, tying the Shockers at 37 within the first minute of the second half. An off-the-dribble three from Haynes-Jones not only broke the tie, but also kick off a 9-2 run for the Shockers capped by a Torres lay-up in transition for a 46-39 lead.

Freshman Morris Udeze brought the Koch Arena crowd and forced Jacksonville State to burn a 30-second timeout after sparking WSU on a 4-0 spurt within 30 seconds to build a 50-41 lead.

Udeze started it off by grabbing a rebound in transition, keeping his eyes up and throwing a long outlet pass ahead to McDuffie who was able to attack 1-on-1 and finish for a layup. Seconds later, McDuffie came up with a steal to jumpstart a fast break for WSU. The first shot missed, but Udeze out-muscled JSU inside for the offensive rebound and finished to get the crowd roaring.

This came after Gregg Marshall publicly called out the performance of his centers in the 32-point drubbing by Oklahoma over the weekend. He specifically challenged his starting center, Echenique, to use his 4-inch height advantage over Jacksonville State.

WSU’s first three shots in the game were fed to Echenique in the low post and he delivered, scoring on all three. Within seven minutes, Echenique had already bullied JSU for 10 points to give WSU a 12-10 lead.

But Echenique fell out of position on defense and lunged over the back trying for a rebound and was whistled for his second foul with 8:29 remaining in the first half and WSU in front, 24-18. WSU briefly led by eight, 26-18, but struggled for the rest of the half without its advantage inside.

JSU connected on two from beyond the arc during an 8-2 spurt to draw within a basket, 28-26, of WSU with 6:04 remaining. Another three by JSU later in the half cut WSU’s lead to 32-31 with 2:27 remaining, but Shockers were able to take a 37-33 lead into halftime.

Erik Stevenson nearly delivered the play of the year with a dunk attempt on an offensive rebound. When McDuffie shot a corner jumper, Stevenson came sprinting in from the perimeter and rose above the crowd to nearly flush the miss into the basket. Instead of the highlight-reel dunk, Stevenson was whistled for an over-the-back foul.

This story was originally published December 12, 2018 at 9:12 PM.