Wichita State basketball wins fifth straight AAC road game with Shockers topping Tulane

The Wichita State men’s basketball team registered its best win of the season on Sunday with an 83-76 victory over Tulane at Fogelman Arena.

In the process, the Shockers received 50 combined points in season-high scoring performances from Jaron Pierre and James Rojas and the 13th triple-double in program history from Craig Porter.

Throw in more than 100 supporters on the road and it was a Shocker party in the aftermath of the team winning its fifth straight road game in the American Athletic Conference to improve to 15-13 overall and 8-8 in conference play, keeping its slim chances alive of a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

“This one feels really great,” WSU head coach Isaac Brown said. “We had a lot of fans come out from Shocker nation to support us and the guys kept fighting and played one of our better games on the road. To play well and win on the road, it takes a tough mindset and we had that bouncing back off a tough game against Memphis.”

Tulane (17-9, 10-5 AAC) entered in second place in the conference standings and lost on its home court for just the second time in AAC play.

To WSU, it was just the latest “road kill” — as the players are fond of saying — in a game where the Shockers led for more than 38 minutes and never trailed.

“Tulane is one of the best teams in the conference, so getting a win like this on the road is huge for us,” Porter said. “I’m super proud of these guys. We finally put that full 40 together and that should be a scary sight for everybody.”

Porter became just the sixth player in program history with a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, 10 rebounds, a career-high 10 assists, a block and three steals.

Back in his hometown of New Orleans, Pierre looked right at home with a season-high 28 points — just one off his career-high in college — on 9-of-17 shooting and four assists, while Rojas finished with a career-high 22 points, buoyed by 10-of-12 shooting at the foul line, to go along with eight rebounds.

WSU’s offense hummed to the tune of 53% shooting from the field, which included 10 triples on 46% accuracy, and 1.15 points per possession even with leading scorer Jaykwon Walton (5 points on 2-of-4 shooting) having a quiet game by his standards. Tulane made 15 3-pointers in the game, including eight from star Jalen Cook in his 30-point performance, but it wasn’t enough.

“We saw a different type of focus today from Jaron,” WSU assistant Tyson Waterman said. “He was locked in and he came out under control and didn’t try to do too much. He played within himself and let the game come to him. He was magnificent.”

Despite there not being a single lead change in the game, there was plenty of drama.

WSU built a 17-point lead in the first half, then saw Tulane whittle it down to four just before halftime. The Shockers stretched their lead back out to as many as 13 points in the second half, but the Green Wave used the 3-ball to come as close as 69-68 with 6:07 remaining.

WSU has failed to close out these types of games at Koch Arena, but for whatever reason, the Shockers have been a different team on the road.

After Tulane closed the gap, WSU’s defense responded with eight stops in the next 10 possessions for Tulane to secure the victory. The Shockers reeled off a 14-5 run during that span — entirely from the free-throw line with the team making 14 of 18 freebies to close out the game.

“We knew they were going to make a run when we got up,” Porter said. “It was definitely a little nerve-wracking, but we’ve got some of the best defenders in the conference on our team and I’ve got confidence in them to make those stops when the game is on the line.”

WSU build a 21-8 lead before the second media timeout, as the Shockers drilled four 3-pointers of their own — the first two by Pierre, then one from Rojas and another from Porter.

Another 11-3 run helped WSU open up a 17-point lead, 41-24, late in the first half, but Tulane shot its way back in the game. Cook made three 3-pointers in less than a minute to bolster a 15-2 run to trim WSU’s lead to 43-39, but Pierre answered with a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to extend WSU’s lead to seven points at halftime.

With the momentum back on Tulane’s side at the start of the second half, WSU made a push behind Porter and Pierre during a 12-2 run where the duo scored all 12 points for the Shockers to open up a 58-47 lead.

Tulane made another push, scoring 10 straight points to close the gap to 69-68 with 6:07 remaining, but Rojas scored four straight points to ensure Tulane would not take its first lead of the game. The Shockers were never threatened after that.

“At the beginning of the season, we always had the potential,” WSU senior Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler said. “Even halfway through the season when stuff wasn’t going our way, the potential was still there. We’re finally putting it all together now and it’s showing.”