Wichita State basketball erases double-digit deficit in USF road game for first AAC win
The story of Melvion Flanagan is no fluke; the walk-on is here to stay.
Flanagan added the latest thrilling chapter to his improbable story on Sunday afternoon, scoring a team-high 16 points to help the Wichita State men’s basketball team rally from a double-digit, second-half deficit to escape Tampa with a 70-66 win over South Florida. The 14-point deficit proved to be tied for the third-largest, second-half comeback on the road in program history.
The 5-foot-10 guard made all four of his shots and scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, including three three-pointers, to rescue the Shockers from a 14-point deficit and revive a team that was in danger of sleepwalking its way to a fourth straight loss to begin American Athletic Conference play. WSU leveled its season record to 8-8 behind Flanagan, who exited the court screaming “We needed that!”
“I used to have a slogan in high school, ‘Killas kill,’” Flanagan said. “I used to do everybody (like that). So I feel like I’m kind of going back to that a little bit.”
While Flanagan’s barrage beyond the arc helped WSU erase the deficit, a collection of different Shockers helped seal the victory.
Craig Porter (nine points, six rebounds, five assists, one block, one steal) shook off a poor shooting performance to can the game-tying jumper with 2:45 to play.
James Rojas (11 points, eight rebounds) battled through an ankle injury that required him to be helped to the locker room in the first half to deliver the go-ahead three-point play on a cut to the basket.
“I knew if I could walk, I was going to play,” Rojas said. “My adrenaline kept me going.”
Jaron Pierre Jr. (nine points) finished a contested layup to extend WSU’s lead to 66-62, a two-possession cushion the Shockers needed in the final minute when they missed four of eight free throws. That gave USF one chance to potentially tie the game in the final moments, but Tyler Harris (16 points) turned down a potential game-tying three to attack the basket and came up empty with eight seconds left. Rojas sealed the win by splitting a pair of free throws for a four-point lead with 6.2 seconds remaining.
“I was just praying we could make two free throws in a row,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said. “It was a good thing we were in the double bonus because every free throw we missed was the first one.”
When nothing was going right for the Shockers, trailing by double-digits on the road and poised to lose to another bottom-tier conference team, the team once again found a spark in Flanagan.
The walk-on made two free throws and scored a lay-up in transition to cap a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to 54-49 with 7:49 remaining. When USF went inside to 7-foot center Russel Tchewa (game-high 19 points, 10 rebounds), Flanagan answered back every time, drilling back-to-back three-pointers less than a minute apart to close the gap to 61-59 with 3:47 left.
So when did he believe the comeback was happening?
“The whole game,” Flanagan said. “It didn’t matter how much we were down, I always thought we were going to give it to them, punch them in the throat and come out with the dub.”
WSU actually led for most of the game’s first 14 minutes, but the game flipped late in the first half when Harris, a Memphis transfer, detonated with five straight points and an assist during a 9-0 run to help USF take a 34-28 lead into halftime.
The Shockers fell further in the hole with a disastrous first two minutes of the second half, which featured two sloppy turnovers, three missed shots and USF ripping off eight straight points to bury WSU in a 42-28 deficit.
“I feel like if we would have lost this one, we would have been going downward and downward,” said WSU center Kenny Pohto, who continued his strong play with 14 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high five assists. “We really needed this win.”
Despite being outrebounded by 10, which included 18 offensive rebounds by USF and 16 second-chance points, the Shockers prevailed behind a defense that limited USF to 37% shooting and a 4-for-23 performance beyond the arc.
WSU’s defense held USF to 26% (5-of-19) shooting in the final 10 minutes to improve to 8-1 against USF in the AAC series.
“There are times where you just got to dig down and get in a defensive stance and not let them get a basket and we weren’t able to do that,” USF coach Brian Gregory said after his team fell to 7-9 on the season and 0-3 in conference play. “It’s frustrating due to the (close losses), being right there and not being able to finish it. You’ve got to be really disciplined in this league and at times we’re struggling in that area.”
The Shockers have a prime opportunity to continue the momentum when they return home with a full week of practice until Saturday’s game against last-place Tulsa (4-10, 0-3 AAC) at Koch Arena.
WSU is likely to receive a boost with the return of second-leading scorer Jaykwon Walton, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury after going through warm-ups Sunday and determining he wasn’t quite ready. Sophomore center Quincy Ballard (lower back) also sat out his fourth game due to injury.
“I’m proud of these guys,” Brown said. “Being on the road, down 14, those guys could have easily packed it in. I kept telling those guys to continue to believe, continue to trust the process. Don’t listen to nothing on the outside and just stay together and continue to fight.”
