Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
ST. LOUIS — Since the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament moved permanently to St. Louis in 1991, Arch Madness has been Arch Sadness for Wichita State.
The Shockers had never advanced to a MVC Tournament championship game in the Gateway to the West.
Until Saturday.
Wichita State had a 6-0 run in the second-to-last minute and held off a late Illinois State rally to post a 65-61 victory at Scottrade Center on Saturday.
In Saturday’s other MVC semifinal, Northern Iowa manhandled Bradley 57-40. WSU and UNI will meet in today’s MVC Championship game at 2 p.m. The Shockers and Panthers split their regular season meetings.
“It’s a great thing for Shocker Nation. Since we’ve been coming to St. Louis, we’ve never been [in the championship]. It feels good,” said WSU guard Toure Murry, who led the Shockers with 17 points.
The Shockers advanced to the MVC Championship game for the first time since it won the tournament in 1987 when it was played at the arena of former MVC member Tulsa.
WSU coach Gregg Marshall soaked in the moment along with a large throng of WSU fans, who comprised a significant portion of the 13,814-strong semifinal crowd and made it look like Koch Arena East in a postgame celebration.
“It is a sense of accomplishment. It’s our 25th win and its a chance to win a championship, it is a chance for us to get back [to the NCAA Tournament],” Marshall said. “I caught myself hesistating to walk off the floor because of the excitement [the fans] were experiencing. It’s a sense of accomplishment, but the biggest thing is right in front of us.”
WSU (25-8) led 30-24 at halftime, but Illinois State (22-10) cut its deficit to one four times. WSU had an answer each time, the last time coming on a Garrett Stutz tip-in with 7:28 left.
Illinois State hung in there, maintaining a four-point gap with 3:44 to go, until WSU went on its decisive run. A stepback jumper by Murry, a free throw by J.T. Durley, and a three-point play by Stutz off a Durley free three miss put WSU up 62-52 with 1:18 to go.
The Redbirds pressed the Shockers and forced two turnovers in the final minute, including a Durley turnover in front of the Illinois State bench with 23 seconds left that Illinois State converted into a Dinma Odiakosa dunk with 19 seconds left which cut WSU’s lead to two.
WSU elected to go for a home run pass on its press break as a Murry pass just cleared an Illinois State defender and found Graham Hatch, who converted a layup with 16 seconds left.
“It’s a gamble, I understand that, but we were struggling against their pressure. They were all-in. You have to have faith in your players to make plays and we did,” Marshall said.
The Redbirds didn’t make a field goal for the remainder of the game.
Stutz and Demetric Williams had 12 points apiece for the Shockers. Odiakosa led Illinois State with 15 points, Lloyd Phillips added 13. Illinois State standout Osiris Eldridge struggled with a 2-for-10 performance as he was hampered by a swollen wrist.
In Saturday’s other MVC Tournament semifinal:
I I I
n UNI 57, Bradley 40 — Bradley defeated Northern Iowa in Peoria and lost by two at Cedar Falls during the regular season, but the rubber match was decisively in the Panthers’ favor from the start in a rout.
Regular season champion UNI (27-4) never trailed in the game, gradually building a 36-19 halftime advantage. The Braves (16-15) shot 28.6 percent from the field in the first half and they were 0-for-5 from 3-point range with 10 turnovers. By contrast, UNI shot 46.7 percent and had two turnovers.
“Sometimes, you just have to take your hat off to them. They were the better team tonight,” Bradley coach Jim Les said. “I thought they played extremely well. Doesn’t mean we have to like it, but I thought they were the aggressor from the get-go.”
UNI’s shooting fell off in the second half, but its defense didn’t. Bradley shot 33.3 percent from the field overall and never cut its deficit to less than 13 in the second half.
Jordan Eglseder and Marc Sonnen co-led UNI with 10 points. Anthony James added eight. Andrew Warren paced Bradley with 12 points.
The Panthers seek back-to-back MVC Tournament titles, something the school has never done.
“We’ve been working towards that goal the entire year. Just finally to realize that we’re going to be playing in the game means a whole lot to me and the whole team. We set our goals from the beginning of the year and I think we’re starting to reach a couple of them.”
Bradley set a MVC Tournament record for free throw accuracy, making 40 of 43 in two games.
n Attendance down — Through four sessions at the MVC Tournament, overall attendance is 42,316, down 7 percent from 2009’s rate.
Overall attendance is on pace to be one of the six best-attended MVC Tournaments. A crowd of 12,083 today for the championship game would put it in the top five all-time, though attendance for the championship last year between UNI and Illinois State was 9,136.
The record attendance was set in 2007 when 85,074 attended five sessions, the best-attended MVC Tournament in league history by over 20,000 tickets sold.
The MVC lost two of its best draws in the play-in round and quarterfinals when Southern Illinois and Creighton were eliminated.
“If teams with larger followings lose, you have attrition. A lot of those fans have stayed, but a lot have gone home. I think we’ll get a reasonable crowd tomorrow,” MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin said.
n Enberg, Raftery to call game for CBS today — For the fifth consecutive year, the MVC Championship Game will be televised on CBS. It will be broadcast at 2 p.m.
Veteran play-by-play man Dick Enberg will call his third MVC Championship and will be joined for the first time by popular color commentator Bill Raftery.
