Boxscore

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Wichita State stayed in a first place tie with Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tuesday night with a hard-fought 80-74 win over the University of Evansville.

With two regular season league games remaining, the Shockers are 22-5 overall and 13-3 in the MVC.  Evansville is 14-12 and 8-8.  The Aces are now sixth in the Valley, one-half game behind Creighton and two games ahead of seventh place Drake.  Evansville can finish no lower than a sixth place tie.

Wichita State went ahead by nine points, 54-45, on Joe Ragland's old fashioned three-point play with 14:22 remaining, but Evansville came back and regained the lead five minutes later, 58-57.  The Aces had their last lead of the night at 64-62 on two free throws by Colt Ryan with 6:53 to go, but Wichita State's depth and size paid off down the stretch.  The Shockers went on a 6-0 run to break a 68-68 tie and eventually take a 74-68 lead on Ben Smith's bucket with 2:56 remaining.  Evansville could get no closer than four the rest of the way.

Smith and 7-footer Garrett Stutz came off the bench to help Wichita, with Smith scoring a team-high 17 points and Stutz adding 12 points and seven rebounds.  Colt Ryan scored 22 for the Aces, who had beaten Wichita State three years in a row at Evansville's Roberts Stadium.

The Shockers ended up with a 46-22 rebounding advantage, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds to Evansville's four.  As a result, Wichita scored 19 second-chance points to UE's two.

The Aces play again Saturday in the Sears BracketBusters at Ohio Valley Conference leader Murray State.  Tip-off is at 7:00 CST.