BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Round 3? That’s OK, Wichita State still trains to go 10.

The No. 2-seeded Shockers handed No. 3-seed Tulsa an 81-68 loss in the semifinals of the American Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala., which served as the teams’ rubber-match after splitting the series on their home courts during the regular season.

Wichita State now moves on to the tournament’s championship bout, where it’ll play No. 1-seed South Florida Sunday at 2:15 p.m. on ESPN for an automatic bid at the NCAA Tournament.

Senior guard Kenyon Giles poured in a game-high 27 points and continued adding to his historic season as a Shocker. He drilled seven 3-pointers, which broke a program single-game record for threes made in a conference tournament game. He stretched his single-season total to 112.

Junior center Will Berg crashed for 14 rebounds and put in 13 points for his ninth double-double of the season. Three other Wichita State players scored 10 or more points.

With the win, the Shockers improved to 22-10 on the year and Tulsa’s season ended at 26-7.

But for now, here are three takeaways from WSU’s semifinals win over Tulsa:

3-point barrage buries Tulsa early in second half

The Shockers didn’t waste time putting their stamp on the final outcome.

Within 9 minutes, 15 seconds of the second half, they hit 46.2% of their shots and drilled 66.7% of their threes to open up a commanding 63-46 lead.

Giles hit three of them, including a step-back over the outstretched arms of Tulsa’s center. Senior forward Karon Boyd drained two. Senior guard Mike Gray Jr., who’s made just three in the last six games of the regular season, added another.

Giles’ fourth of the half — on just six attempts — put Wichita State up by 20 points, 66-46, and the rest of the half was spent whittling away the seconds as they ticked. He then started carving up the mid-range and drained back-to-back shots in traffic to keep Tulsa from gaining any momentum.

The Golden Hurricane did find it late in the game, going on a 6-0 run over 3:15 to cut Wichita State’s lead in half to 70-60. But the Shockers didn’t buckle and ended the game on an 11-8 run over the last five minutes.

Bench provides boost during first half

It took a little bit for Wichita State to find momentum throughout the early stages of the first half.

Boyd and Giles drained threes, but that’s all that could be said for the offense before the first media timeout. And uncharacteristically compared to the rest of the season, the Shockers couldn’t secure much on the glass.

They were outrebounded by six early on, 9-3, and the Golden Hurricane snagged five on the offensive end. But that began to change once junior Will Berg and redshirt freshman TJ Williams checked in off the bench.

Almost immediately, Wichita State went on an 11-2 run to take a 15-11 lead midway through the period. Berg crashed on a miss and tipped one in for a second-chance basket. Williams posted up his defender, finished with his patented left hand and secured a three-point play the old-fashioned way. Williams then scored on an offensive rebound of his own to create a six-point cushion.

Tulsa went on runs of its own before the break, however, and Wichita State led, 39-33, at the break. Fifteen of the Shockers’ points were from bench contributions. 

Giles was freed up by the end of the period, scoring 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Gray finished with eight on 4-of-5 shooting, four assists and three rebounds.

Mike Gray Jr. breaks out of shooting slump

Gray, who hadn’t made more than four shot attempts over Wichita State’s final 11 regular-season games, broke out of that slump when the stakes mattered most.

He finished the game by making 5-of-9 attempts for 13 points. But scoring wasn’t all that Gray did against the Golden Hurricane.

In the first half alone, he dished out four assists and grabbed three rebounds. By the end of the game, those totals rose to six assists and six boards — with just one foul. Gray’s box plus/minus of plus-15 led the Shockers who checked into the game. 

And while Giles lit up the floor with tough twos and game-defining threes, Gray provided a steady backbone that helped allow it to happen.