Toure' Murry scored 24 points, including a layup with 1:21 to play that gave Wichita State the lead for good, in a back-and-forth 71-68 victory Wednesday over Northern Iowa.
Murry added a jumper with 12 seconds left for the final margin. Northern Iowa's Marc Sonnen's game-tying 3-point attempt in the closing seconds was off the mark.
Garrett Stutz added 17 points and Joe Ragland 13 for the Shockers (16-3, 7-1 Missouri Valley).
Anthony James led the Panthers (13-7, 3-5) with 16 points, and Seth Tuttle had 15.
Northern Iowa led by as many as eight in the second half and by five, 64-59, after a Jake Koch jumper with 4:20 to play. But a Murry jumper, a Carl Hall layup and two Murry free throws put the Shockers up 65-64. Deon Mitchell's two free throws gave UNI the lead back before Murry's layup, and Ragland added two big free throws.
