Davidson, NC – Joe Ragland poured in a game-high 30 points on of-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds, as No. 24 Wichita State handled 74, in a BracketBuster matchup from Belk Arena.
Toure' Murry scored 16 points and added six assists, while Carl Hall added 13 points and five rebounds for the Shockers (24-4), who extended their winning streak to six games.
Jake Cohen finished with 25 points to pace the Wildcats (20-7), while Chris Czerapowicz netted 17 points and Nik Cochran donated 16 points to go with six assists. De'Mon Brooks contributed 10 points for Davidson, which had won five of six coming in.
Leading 51-50 with 14:31 left in the second half, Wichita State broke the game open with a back-breaking 15-4 run to take the first double-digit advantage of the contest. Murray scored five during the burst, capping it with a layup for a 66-54 edge.
Davidson didn't get within single digits again and the Shockers continued to extend their cushion. Ragland capped a string of nine straight Wichita State points to make it 84-61 with less than five minutes to play.
A slam by Czerapowicz with 2:12 to go pulled the Wildcats within 85-74, and they went to the full-court press to try and create some turnovers.
Wichita State was able to break the press rather easily and layups by Garrett Stutz and Ragland late in the game capped the scoring.
"Credit to Wichita State, shooting such a high percentage in the second half is not easy to do," Davidson head coach Bob McKillop said. "There was about a six-minute stretch where we took some premature shots and needed more patience from our offense. They got some easy baskets and built up a double-digit lead and it was really tough for us to dig out of that hole."
The Shockers opened the contest with an 8-2 run, but Davidson answered with the next six points to tie the game.
Both teams played well the rest of the first half. Wichita State shot 50 percent from the floor and Davidson countered at 43 percent, but also made five three-pointers.
Neither team led by more than five after the early Shocker spurt and Wichita State took a 39-38 edge into the locker room at halftime.
Ragland sank three free throws early in the second half to give the Shockers a 46-40 lead, but a pair of treys by Cohen around a Ragland layup got Davidson within two, 48-46, with 17:25 to play.
Cohen put home a layup to make it 51-50.
Game Notes
Saturday marked the first ever meeting between the teams...Wichita State shot 63.6 percent from the floor, while Davidson shot 43.5 percent...Wichita State dominated inside, scoring 58 points in the paint to only 28 for Davidson...The Shockers also received 20 points from their bench, while the Wildcats' reserves produced only two points...Wichita State got the better of the play on the glass, outrebounding Davidson, 34-24.
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