WICHITA, Kan.—Graham Hatch scored 17 points and reserve Gabe Blair added a season-high 15 to lead Wichita State to a 70-58 victory over Creighton on Saturday.
Six of the previous nine Creighton-Wichita State games were decided in the closing seconds. That included the last meeting, which ended with a Bluejays buzzer beater in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last year.
But Wichita State (15-2, 4-1 Missouri Valley) led by at least 10 points throughout the final 30 minutes on Saturday while improving to 11-0 at home. Clevin Hannah and J.T. Durley added 11 points each for the Shockers.
Creighton (7-9, 2-3) was led by Kenny Lawson’s 15 points inside but had problems with its perimeter shooting. The Bluejays entered the game second in the conference with 7.7 made 3-pointers a game but were 2 of 11 from beyond the arc.
Wichita State pushed a 12-point halftime lead to 18 in the first six minutes of the second half. Creighton’s best stretch was a run of five straight points that ended with a Justin Carter baseline drive and basket, pulling the Bluejays within 55-42 with 11:28 remaining. But Blair scored five of the next seven points to push the lead to 16.
Creighton could not close the gap significantly, despite shooting 52 percent in the second half and Antoine Young scoring nine of his 10 points after halftime.
Wichita State was 15 of 17 from the free-throw line. Hannah, the national leader in free-throw percentage, hit two from the line to improve his streak to 30 straight.
The Shockers started the game with an 11-1 run, capped by 3-pointers from Hatch and Hannah, and used long shots to maintain their cushion. Wichita State, which entered the game ninth in the Missouri Valley at 5.9 3-pointers a game, was 5 of 12 from behind the arc in the first half.
