Men's Basketball | 11/26/2019 8:13:20 PM

Trying to become the first ever repeat winner of the Cancun Challenge, Wichita State took a step in the right direction on Tuesday evening with its convincing win over South Carolina, 70-47. 

 Erik Stevenson ignited the Shocker effort in the first half, tallying 19 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Trey Wade (11 points) and Jamarius Burton (10 points) also finished in double figures for Wichita State. 

As a team, the Shockers out rebounded the Gamecocks 43-34 and got 31 points from the bench. Defensively, WSU turned 19 turnovers into 20 points. 

Maik Kotsar led the way for South Carolina head coach Frank Martin. The power forward battled for 12 points and collected seven rebounds. The Gamecocks shot just 32 percent from the field and were 8-17 from the charity stripe.

Wichita State will advance to the Riviera Championship Game where they’ll await the winner of Northern Iowa and West Virginia. South Carolina will take on the loser of the matchup in Wednesday’s Riviera Third Place Game.