ST. LOUIS—Ron Baker hit 5-3-pointers and scored 25 points and league champion Wichita State used a late 11-0 run to rally for an a 66-58 win over eighth-seeded Loyola in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament on Thursday.The Shockers (24-7), who have won six straight, face fourth-seeded Northern Iowa in Saturday’s semifinals.The Ramblers (15-17), who trailed 30-21 at the half against a team that beat them by 26 and 22 during the regular season, were up 52-45 before a 3 by Baker started a game-winning 17-3 run. Baker’s 3 at 1:54 put Wichita State up 57-55. Fred VanVleet then made 5 of 6 free throws for a seven-point lead.Devon Turk had 16 points for the Ramblers, who made just 1 of their last nine shots as Shaquille Morris had several of his career-high six blocks for the Shockers, who finished with 10.Wichita State had a season-high 17 turnovers.
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Jeremy Morgan scored 18 points and Northern Iowa made six free throws in the last 28 seconds to defeat Southern Illinois 66-60 in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament on Thursday.The fourth-seeded Panthers (20-12) face league champion Wichita State in Saturday’s early semifinal.Northern Iowa led 29-28 at the half and built the lead to 12 before the fifth-seeded Salukis (22-10) battled back. A 3-point play by Armon Fletcher tied the game at 56 with 2:18 to play. Both teams had a pair of empty possessions before Morgan made a pair of free throws at 1:15. Sean O’Brien tied it at 1:01 but 14 seconds later Wes Washpun made a tough layup for Northern Iowa.Then Fletcher missed a 3-pointer and Morgan made two more free throws with 28 seconds remaining. Anthony Bean quickly scored for Southern Illinois but Matt Bohannon and Klint Carlson clinched it at the foul line. Northern Iowa was 15 of 18 from the line in the second half.Beane had 17 points and O’Brien had 12 points and 12 rebounds for SIU.
———————————————————————————————————–Brenton Scott scored 14 points and Indiana State never trailed in the second half and beat Illinois State 65-57 on Friday night in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.Niels Bunschoten added 11 points for the sixth-seeded Sycamores (15-16), who play No. 2 seed Evansville (24-8) in Saturday’s semifinal.MiKyle McIntosh had 17 points and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell scored 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for No. 3 seed Illinois State (18-14), which shot just 23 percent in the first half and finished 20 of 64 from the floor for 31-percent shooting overall.Indiana State had its largest lead, 43-26 with 14 minutes remaining. The Redbirds pulled to 61-57 and had a chance to pull closer after the Sycamores committed a turnover with 41 seconds left.McIntosh missed a 3, Bunschoten blocked Justin McCloud’s layup attempt, and Akoon-Purcell missed another 3-point attempt on the Redbirds’ next possession. The Sycamores then made 4 of 5 free throws to seal it.

All four Illinois Schools have been eliminated from Arch Madness.