McDuffie scores 25 to lead Shockers to their fifth straight win at Koch Arena
The Wichita State men’s basketball team has its first three-game winning streak of the season.
Courtesy of the 84-63 victory over Oral Roberts on Wednesday, the Shockers (7-4) won their fifth straight game at Koch Arena and have now won five of their last six games entering the non-conference finale at VCU this Saturday.
WSU senior Markis McDuffie led the way against ORU’s zone defense, scoring a game-high 25 points boosted by a perfect 10-of-10 shooting performance from the free-throw line. Junior center Jaime Echenique added 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting, the sixth time this season he’s been in double-digit scoring. Senior Samajae Haynes-Jones chipped in 13 points.
But the biggest takeaway from the game was the first appearance this season from Ricky Torres scoring. The junior-college transfer averaged 2.5 points on 32 percent shooting from the field in his first 10 games, so Wednesday’s performance of 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting easily topped Torres’ previous career-best seven points at WSU.
Torres constantly split the top of ORU’s zone and made four jumpers by pulling up at the free-throw line. He even stepped out beyond the arc one time and drilled a three-pointer, just his second of the season.
WSU secured victory with a 12-2 spurt late in the second half to build the game’s largest lead of 21 points. Echenique banked in a three, then Haynes-Jones followed with a pair of threes.
WSU got its first momentum swing in the second half when ORU’s Chris Miller picked up his fourth foul on an offensive foul with 17:46 remaining, then his fifth on a technical foul assessed to him for arguing the call with officials. McDuffie made both technical free throws, then made two more on the ensuing possession for a 45-35 lead.
McDuffie did most of WSU’s damage against ORU’s zone defense, spotting up in the left corner for threes and finding the soft spots in the middle and aggressively attacking the basket to draw fouls. McDuffie’s short jumper with 8:57 remaining gave WSU a 64-51 lead.
But WSU’s offensive attack actually struggled in the opening eight minutes against ORU’s zone. There wasn’t anything that made Oral Roberts’ 2-3 zone stand out, but it served its purpose in baiting WSU to pass the ball listlessly around the perimeter and settle for contested jump shots. After eight minutes, ORU led 15-13.
It wasn’t until a loose-ball scrum midway through the first half that WSU showed signs of life. It started with freshman Erik Stevenson diving head-first on the ground into two ORU players, then fellow freshman Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler got on the floor and wrestled the ball away.
Instead of trying to frantically call timeout, Poor Bear-Chandler had the awareness to push the ball 20 feet into the air over the scrum and straight into the hands of Echenique, who took a giant drop-step and laid the ball through the basket while being fouled.
The play brought coach Gregg Marshall to his knees, euphorically screaming and fist-pumping. Not only did it fire up the Koch Arena crowd, but it seemed to spark the players.
It didn’t start the 12-0 run WSU used to take a 25-15 lead with 6:51 remaining, but it was the moment WSU gained the momentum. Jamarius Burton followed with a basket inside, then Echenique gave the Shockers the 10-point lead with a smooth post move.
The Shockers took an 11-point lead, 32-21, into the final media timeout of the first half after Samajae Haynes-Jones scored on back-to-back trips, but a poor close to the half kept Oral Roberts in the game.
ORU closed the half on a 12-4 spurt to cut WSU’s halftime lead to 36-33, highlighted by five straight points by former Shocker walk-on Kaelen Malone, who is now a prominent guard for ORU. Malone scored a layup in transition that forced Marshall to burn a timeout with 1:29 remaining, then drained a deep three with 45 seconds left to cut WSU’s lead to three.
Malone finished with 12 points on 5 off 11 shooting, five rebounds and seven assists to lead Oral Roberts.
This story was originally published December 19, 2018 at 9:02 PM.
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