No. 16 Wichita State escapes at Bradley (VIDEO)

No. 16 Wichita State defeated Bradley for an 11th straight time. Most of them came easily as the two programs went in different directions. One is still rising and one fading, but the Shockers needed to work harder than expected to defeat Bradley 62-59 on Wednesday at Carver Arena.

As a bounce-back to Saturday’s 16-point loss at No. 14 Northern Iowa, WSU’s execution and effort came up short in key areas.

“It’s kind of hard to block out that type of game,” WSU guard Ron Baker said. “It was a tough game to get out of your head. Losing that badly, for this group, wasn’t something that had happened — ever.”

WSU coach Gregg Marshall preferred to credit the short-handed Braves, who outrebounded his team 35-31 and scored 16 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.

“It’s been a tough couple of days since we played Northern Iowa, and we made enough plays,” he said. “That game could have easily opened up at 10 or 12 points with five or six minutes to go. They just continued to fight and had a chance to win the game.”

The Shockers (20-3, 10-1 MVC) led by 14 points midway through the second half and then stopped scoring. Bradley (7-17, 2-9) cut the lead to 59-57 on two free throws by Tramique Sutherland, completing a 21-9 run that made the game far more stressful than anticipated and forced Marshall to call a rare timeout to regroup.

“We were down, and we were down for good reasons,” Bradley coach Geno Ford said. “We swung and fired as many punches as we were able to.”

WSU survived when Baker made a free throw with 12.1 seconds to play for a 60-57 lead. After two Bradley free throws, Fred VanVleet made two more with 4.6 seconds to play to make it 62-59. Evan Wessel intercepted an inbound pass near half-court in the final seconds.

Baker led WSU with 14 points and Tekele Cotton and Darius Carter, who fouled out, each added 10. Baker scored nine of his points in the second half, making two three-pointers that helped build a 50-36 lead that appeared safe with 12:38 remaining. VanVleet scored six of his eight points in the second half.

Sutherland led Bradley with 18 points.

“Everyone in the building knew Ron Baker was going to get it, or VanVleet was going to have it,” Ford said. “They stepped up and made All-American plays.”

It was hard to tell, among all the missed shots and bad passes, but WSU did indeed make the plays. The Shockers didn’t make a basket in the final 12:38 after taking a 50-36 lead on a jumper by Tevin Glass. They scored their final 12 points on free throws, going 12 of 16 in the final 11:14. WSU led 57-45 with 6:17 to play and then missed its next four shots.

A steal and dunk by Auston Barnes cut WSU’s lead to 57-51. Josh Cunnigham dunked after a missed layup to make it 59-55. The Shockers kept missing shots — a three by Cotton followed off the mark — and the Braves kept coming.

The Shockers figured out Bradley’s zone in the first half. The Braves played mostly man to man in the second half and caused the Shockers problems with a big lineup forced upon it by injuries and suspensions.

“They were guarding us pretty well and we were making silly passes,” Baker said. “We weren’t executing to our standard at all.”

Bradley played without three guards. Anthony Field, a reserve until suspensions forced him into the starting lineup, tore the meniscus in his left knee in Tuesday’s practice and is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. Leading scorer Warren Jones and starter Ka’Darryl Bell remained suspended due to legal problems.

WSU needed its 35-22 halftime cushion, one it built by holding the Braves to 8-of-25 shooting and forcing seven first-half turnovers.

Wichita State figured out Bradley’s zone defense after several halting trips. The Shockers dribbled into open spaces and made sharp passes for easy shots. The sequence started with Cotton penetrating and feeding Shaq Morris for a dunk and a 13-5 lead. Baker’s floater in the lane made it 15-5. Then Cotton found Carter cutting to the basket for a three-point play and an 18-7 lead.

VanVleet committed two early fouls and spent most of the first half on the bench. While the Shockers made 14 of 24 shots, their eight turnovers kept them from building a larger lead. Bradley, however, failed to take advantage of WSU’s ball-handling issues.

This story was originally published February 4, 2015 at 9:21 PM with the headline "No. 16 Wichita State escapes at Bradley (VIDEO)."