National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Wichita St. 74, Northern Iowa 60
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 28, 2015
Where: Charles Koch Arena, Wichita, Kansas
Officials: # Paul Janssen, # Terry Oglesby, # Bert Smith
Attendance: 10506

No. 11 Wichita State 74, No. 10 Northern Iowa 60: Ron Baker scored 17 points to lead five starters in double figures and added seven assists as the Shockers withstood a second-half rally by the visiting Panthers to claim their second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.

Fred VanVleet had 13 points, six rebounds and seven assists while Tekele Cotton had 11 points and eight boards for Wichita State (27-3, 17-1 MVC), which has won the league title in three of the last four seasons. Darius Carter and Evan Wessel added 11 points apiece as the Shockers shot 49.1 percent and avenged a 70-54 loss to the Panthers on Jan. 31.

Seth Tuttle led Northern Iowa (27-3, 16-2) with 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Matt Bohannon chipped in nine points on three 3-pointers. Paul Jesperson and Wes Washpun scored eight points apiece for the Panthers, who were outrebounded 32-26 and saw their school-record 16-game winning streak come to an end.

Northern Iowa trailed at the half for the first time in league play after Wichita State closed on a 22-6 run to move ahead 38-26 at the break. Shaquille Morris threw down a dunk to extend the lead to 51-33 with just over 15 minutes left before Jesperson scored eight points during a 16-2 run to help the Panthers cut the deficit to 53-49 with just over nine minutes remaining.

Wessel scored eight of his 11 points in the second half and drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Shockers ahead 63-55 with 5 ½ minutes left. Northern Iowa, which came in ranked fourth nationally in scoring defense at 53.8 points, trailed by 12 after Cotton threw down a breakaway windmill dunk with 1:12 remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Tuttle, who scored 29 points in last month’s win over the Shockers, was held to six points in the first half. … Wessel, Baker and VanVleet made three 3-pointers apiece for Wichita State, which has won 47 straight home games when scoring at least 70 points. … Wichita State has won seven of the last nine meetings against the Panthers.
Top Game Performances
 
Northern Iowa   Wichita St.
Seth Tuttle 16 Scoring Ron Baker 17
Seth Tuttle 6 Assists Ron Baker 7
Seth Tuttle 7 Rebounds Tekele Cotton 8
Seth Tuttle 4 Free Throws Made Darius Carter 3
N/A Steals Tekele Cotton 3
Jeremy Morgan 1 Blocks Darius Carter 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Northern Iowa 60 47.8 8-20 8-11 8 22 2 0 10
Wichita St. 74 49.1 11-24 7-10 19 28 2 4 3