Junior sharpshooter Trey Guidry went on his own 9-0 run to pull the Illinois State mens basketball team to within six points in the second half after the Redbirds trailed Wichita State 34-19 at halftime, but the Shockers depth lifted them to a 68-62, Missouri Valley Conference win Saturday at Charles Koch Arena.
With the victory, Wichita State claimed its 20 win against eight losses and a 12-5 league mark, while Illinois State fell to 8-18 and 3-14 respectively.
Trailing 39-27, Guidry got the Redbirds to within six points with three consecutive treys. Sophomore Marcus Arnold added a jumper at the 13:50 mark to cap the 11-0 Redbird run and closed the gap to 39-35. Arnold dropped in a layup at the 11:41 mark to close the Shocker lead to 42-39, but Wichita State responded with a 10-0 run and pushed the lead to 52-39.
Once again the Redbirds battled back with another 9-0 spurt to close the Shocker lead to 54-50 with 5:28 on the clock, but that was as close as the Birds would get.
Guidry finished the game with a game-high 23 points and was one of only four Redbirds to score. Arnold dropped in 18, while Vince Greene tossed in 12 and Greg Dilligard added nine to round out the scoring. Wichita State was led by Jamar Howards 15 tallies. Fridge Holman added 11 points and Rob Kampman scored 10.
Illinois State closes out its regular-season schedule on Monday night when the Redbirds host Drake at Redbird Arena at 7:05 p.m.
