No. 15 Wichita State uses strong second half to top Bradley

Wichita, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - Darius Carter led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds as No. 15 Wichita State continued its dominant conference play with a 63-43 victory over Bradley on Wednesday.

Ron Baker scored 12 points and Shaquille Morris chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Shockers (13-2, 3-0 MVC), who have won 21 straight games against MVC opponents.

Ka'Darryl Bell finished with 11 points and Auston Barnes and Tramique Sutherland each netted 10 for the Braves (6-10, 1-2), who have dropped its last 10 games against Wichita State.

Bradley shot just 4-for-22 from the field (18.2 percent) in the second half after leading at the break.

The Shockers pulled away after Baker netted back-to-back shots from beyond to ignite an 18-2 tear that included seven straight points from Carter for a 49-34 lead with 7:47 to go.

Wichita State led by as much as 20 down the stretch

It was a close game throughout the opening 20 minutes as there were four ties and the largest lead was Bradley's 11-7 advantage midway through the frame.

After Morris' dunk gave the Shockers a 25-23 lead with 2:39 to play, Barnes nailed a trey and Sutherland hit a jumper for a 28-25 Bradley lead with 1:03 to play.

Carter made a pair from the foul line and the Shockers trailed 28-27 at halftime.

After Morris dunked and shot a jumper early in the second half, each team went cold as Xzavier Taylor's basket ended a streak of 3:53 without a point and made it a 31-31 game with 13:05 to play.

Game Notes

The Shockers have also won 25 straight games at home ... Bradley has lost its last 11 games against nationally-ranked opponents ... Wichita State shot 43.1 percent from the field compared to Bradley's 34.8 percent.