UNI turns away Wichita State 77-74

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Kwadzo Ahelegbe scored 21 points and Anthony James had 20 as Northern Iowa upset Wichita State 77-74 Wednesday night.

Northern Iowa (14-6, 5-3 Missouri Valley) won its fourth straight. Jake Koch and Johnny Moran each scored 12 for the Panthers.

The Shockers (15-4, 6-2) wasted a chance to pull into a three-way tie for the conference lead. J.T. Durley and David Kyles scored 14 points apiece to lead Wichita State.

Northern Iowa scored the first four points of the second half to lead 43-35, the largest advantage for either team. But Demetric Williams scored five points in an 8-1 Shockers run to cut Northern Iowa's lead to 44-43.

That started 11 minutes of the teams exchanging the lead and one-possession advantages.

The Panthers made their move as they trailed 64-61 with 5:06 remaining. Marc Sonnen hit a running jumper, and then James scored on an inside jumper and a baseline 3-pointer. Two free throws by Ahelegbe pushed Northern Iowa's lead to 70-64 with 2:27 remaining.

Durley hit a short baseline jump shot with 2:10 remaining, and two free throws by Aaron Ellis closed the Panthers' lead to 71-68 with 51.3 seconds on the clock.

Ahelegbe then hit a fadeaway jumper after drawing contact from Wichita State's Gabe Blair with 31.7 seconds to play. Ahelegbe missed the free throw, and Kyles kept the Shockers alive by sinking a deep 3-pointer with 14.2 seconds remaining.

After Moran hit two free throws, Wichita State's Joe Ragland swished a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds to play, trimming Northern Iowa's lead to 75-74.

Koch was then fouled and made two free throws. Kyles' desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer did not reach the rim.

Northern Iowa, which had not scored more than 55 points in its three previous Missouri Valley road games, shot 57.4 percent and made 16 of 20 free throws.

The Panthers got off to a good start as five straight points by James gave them a 10-3 lead with 15:47 remaining in the first half.

But Wichita State answered by scoring 11 straight points over 3 1/2 minutes. The run was capped by Blair's slam and Kyles' 3-point shot, making it 16-12 Shockers with 11:41 to play before halftime.

Neither team led by more than four the rest of the half. Kyles hit another deep 3-pointer, part of his 11-point half on 4-for-5 shooting.

Ahelegbe caught fire, scoring 10 points in final 5:26 of the half. That included a step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer that gave Northern Iowa a 39-35 halftime lead.

N. IOWA 77, WICHITA ST. 74

N. IOWA (14-6)

Koch 4-7 2-2 12, O'Rear 2-3 0-0 4, Ahelegbe 5-9 10-12 21, Moran 4-6 3-3 12, James 9-13 0-1 20, Rank 0-0 0-0 0, Dunham 1-4 1-2 3, Sonnen 2-5 0-0 5. Totals 27-47 16-20 77.<

WICHITA ST. (15-4)

Ellis 2-5 2-2 6, Durley 6-11 1-1 14, Ragland 2-3 4-4 9, Hatch 1-2 0-0 3, Murry 2-2 0-0 4, Williams 3-5 2-2 9, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 4-5 0-0 10, Kyles 5-11 0-0 14, Blair 2-3 1-2 5, Stutz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-48 10-11 74.<

Halftime_N. Iowa 39-35. 3-Point Goals_N. Iowa 7-15 (James 2-3, Koch 2-4, Sonnen 1-1, Moran 1-2, Ahelegbe 1-3, Dunham 0-2), Wichita St. 10-20 (Kyles 4-9, Smith 2-2, Hatch 1-2, Ragland 1-2, Durley 1-2, Williams 1-3). Fouled Out_Blair. Rebounds_N. Iowa 19 (Ahelegbe, Moran, O'Rear 4), Wichita St. 27 (Durley 5). Assists_N. Iowa 8 (Ahelegbe 4), Wichita St. 17 (Hatch, Kyles, Ragland 3). Total Fouls_N. Iowa 13, Wichita St. 20. A_10,212.