Xavier Bell scored a season-high 24 points as Wichita State defeated Kansas State 84-65 Saturday night.

Bell, who was coming off a 21-point game in a loss to Kansas City on Tuesday, netted 13 of his points in the second half on Saturday as the Shockers blitzed the Wildcats 55-32 after intermission.

Wichita State (9-3) also got 18 points and 10 rebounds from Corey Washington, 13 points from Justin Hill and 10 points, 10 boards and three blocks from Quincy Ballard.

Kansas State (6-5) lost its third straight game. Macaleab Rich’s career-high 20 points paced the Wildcats, and Brendan Hausen added 13 points. Coleman Hawkins supplied nine rebounds, eight assists and four blocks to go with six points.

After an ugly first half, with both teams shooting about 40 percent from the floor and Kansas State leading by four, the Shockers found their range, hitting at a 63 percent rate (17 of 27) after intermission.

The early part of the second half remained close until Wichita State went on an 8-0 run to lead 56-48. Minutes later, when Bell drove to the basket following a missed Kansas State 3-pointer, the Shockers had their first 10-point lead at 64-54 with 6:08 left. They pulled away from there.

Both teams struggled offensively early in the game. The Wildcats shot just 37.1 percent from the field in the first half, including 5-of-16 from 3-point range. If not for the little-used Rich, they would have been in worse trouble.

Wichita State was not much better, shooting 40.6 percent before the break.

After trailing for the first 19 minutes, Kansas State used a late 7-0 run to tie the score at 25-25. The surge was helped by crashing the offensive glass, as the Wildcats held a 26-16 edge on the boards in the half, including 10-3 on the offensive end.

After Wichita State regained a four-point lead, Rich hit back-to-back 3-pointers. He finished the half with 13 points to lead the Wildcats. Bell paced Wichita State with 11 points.

–Field Level Media