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Final Score: Wichita State 68 - Illinois State 55

Normal, IL (Sports Network) - Joe Ragland paced four Wichita State players in double figures with 14 points as the 19th-ranked Shockers took down Illinois State by a 68-55 count on Wednesday to lock up the Missouri Valley Conference title.

Garrett Stutz had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, while Ben Smith and Demetric Williams chipped in with 11 points apiece for Wichita State (25-4 15-2 MVC), which has won seven straight contests.

Bryant Allen dropped in a game-high 17 points for the Redbirds (17-12, 8-9), who received nine points and eight rebounds from John Wilkins in defeat. Illinois State has lost three of its last four games.

Wichita State jumped on top in a hurry, opening the game with a 15-4 run, capped by a Carl Hall layup.

Wilkins finally snapped the run with a layup, which sparked a 16-9 Illinois State spurt to pull the Redbirds within 24-20 with six minutes to play in the opening half. Allen, who capped the burst with a trey, had eight points during the surge.

Wichita State, though, closed the opening 20 minutes on a 10-2 flurry to lead 34-22 at the break.

Illinois State opened the second half by outscoring the Shockers 10-5 to cut the deficit to seven, 39-32, with 15:26 left in the game.

A trey by Ragland pushed the Wichita State lead back to 10 with 14:30 to go, and they went on a 12-5 burst to extend the lead to 17, 57-40, with 9:41 to play.

Tyler Brown sank a pair of free throws with 4:13 left to cut the deficit to single-digits at 64-55, but David Kyles put home a layup to give Wichita State a 66-55 lead with 2:52 to go and they led by double-digits the rest of the way.