WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Ramon Clemente had 11 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday night as Wichita State beat LSU 67-47 at Koch Arena.
The Shockers (6-4) held LSU to its worst shooting half of the season in the first half, then held the Tigers to two points in a key eight-minute span of the second half.
Wichita State’s Phil Thomasson led all scorers with 15 points.
Marcus Thornton had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers (6-4), whose previous three losses came by a combined 10 points.
The Shockers scored the first seven points of the second half, capping an 11-0 run to lead 34-20 and take control of the game. Less than three minutes later, Wichita State’s Gal Mekel hit a 3-pointer — the Shockers first after missing their first 13 attempts — to push the lead to 42-24 with 14:16 remaining.
That advantage climbed to as many as 27 as LSU, down to eight healthy scholarship players due to injuries, wilted. Despite being the shorter team, Wichita State outrebounded LSU 50-31.
Shockers coach Gregg Marshall recorded his 200th career victory, most of those coming at Winthrop.
Coming off close losses to Texas-Arlington and Missouri-Kansas City, the Shockers fired up the sell-out crowd early with a full-court press that created turnovers and scoring opportunities. Wichita State broke to a 12-6 lead behind four points each from Thomasson, Matt Braeuer and Ramon Clemente.
The Tigers came back to lead 15-14 on a jump shot by Terry Martin, who had 11 points in the first nine minutes. He did not score again.
But the Shockers held LSU to five points in last 11 minutes of the first half and did not trail again. That stretch included two empathic slam dunks from Wichita State’s P.J. Couisnard.
WSU led 27-20 at the half.
Wichita State Head Coach Gregg Marshall:
“We played with a lot of pride and a lot of heart. We certainly played as hard as our opposition. We were very tough and it resulted in a much needed win, an exciting win.”
“The first 14 minutes of the second half, we were really effective. It was easy for me to coach that type of performance.”
“We continually emphasized, when you go you’ve got to go strong. You can’t extend and try to be fancy because when you do, they’re length is going to tower over you. You have to go through them or around them, use the rim as a shield and go to try to dunk it. Don’t go soft. We did a pretty good job of that.”
LSU Head Coach John Brady:
“We don’t execute very well, particularly against the zone. ..When you can’t stabilize a game at all by finishing some quality defensive possessions with a rebound, there’s no way you can get any stability within the game.”
“Our initial thrust offensively was pretty good, because they had to take it down to 10 seconds almost every time on the shot clock.”
“If we can’t establish the board any better than that, then we are going to have trouble beating anyone, regardless of how we shoot the ball.”
Wichita State’s Matt Braeuer:
“Our rebounding tonight was tremendous. We played well enough to win and we will continue to get better. If we play like we did tonight, then we have a chance to be in every game this year.”
“Our saying before the game was ?The talk is over, so let’s prove it,’ and I would say we did.”
Wichita State’s Ramon Clemente:
“That team brought the best out of us…We had to keep being aggressive .”
Wichita State’s Phil Thomasson:
“The first shot I took, I tried to take it at him and he blocked it. The next one, he blocked it again, but it went right back to me and I made the layup. All week he (Coach Marshall) was stressing that the guys were long and athletic.”