The Wichita State Shockers won and advanced to the Final Four at the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament by beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in a 70-66. The NCAA basketball world is definitely shocked as this Cinderella Story continues as they survived a Buckeyes' run that almost stripped them of their victory.
With 12:41 remaining in the game, Wichita St. was up by 20 points as the scoreboard read 51-31. However, Ohio State went on a 12-5 run to make it a 13-point game with eight minutes remaining.
In what became a strong team performance, the Shockers were able to pull out another upset so common in their 2013 NCAA Tournament run. They survived a late surge by Ohio St. With under two minutes remaining Tekele Cotton grabbed a huge offensive rebound to run down the clock and within a minute left in the game, Fred Venvleet knocked down a floater that gave Wichita St. a six-point lead.
Malcolm Armstead scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to complete the double-double leading Wichita St. to victory. Cleanthony Early finished with 12 points and two blocks before leaving the game with what appeared to be a tweaked ankle. Cotton finished with 10 points, with a huge three to give Wichita St. breathing run late in the game. Vanvleet added 12 points.
Wichita's gameplan appeared to be leaving Aaron Craft open on the perimeter. They were lucky as Craft, who played hero last week helping Ohio St. advance to the third round, was off all night shooting just 2-11 from the floor and scoring nine points in this game.
Fueled by poor shooting, this game was out of hand half way into the second half.
Wichita State went cold from the field and began relying on free throws to get buckets as Ohio St. began cutting down the lead. With three minutes left, it became a five-point game. However, the Shockers were resilient and they held on to their lead.
Luckily for the Shockers, Ohio St. began playing well too late. A poor offensive output from Ohio State allowed Wichita State to build a lead as they sunk three-pointers after three-pointers in the first half. The score was tied at 13 with 11:03 remaining in the period. Wichita St. closed it out on a 22-9 run.
Wichita St.'s defense held the Ohio St. to its worst scoring performance in a half as the scoreboard read 35-22.
Nobody was in double-digits scoring and though there were only eight turnovers in total, it was an offensively sloppy game in the first half. Wichita St. shot 36 percent, while Ohio St. only made 24 percent of their shots for a horrendous start to their game.
Deshaun Thomas had nine points in the first half, but he was shooting 4-13 and 0-5 from the floor. Ohio St. was settling for outside shots and they were not hitting anything. Thanks to a great defensive effort from Amir Williams, who had five blocks in the first 20 minutes, Ohio St. was able to hang around as he prevented Wichita St. from making easy baskets.
Wichita St. controlled the boards early and were 5-12 from three-pointer as they had four different players sinking threes from beyond the arc.
Thanks to a better first half, Wichita St. was able to win this game. They will face either Louisville or Duke in the Final Four.
