Wichita State men’s basketball came out strong in the first half in their exhibition game against Augusta (Ga.) to lead 41-25 at half. The Shockers, however, gave up a 23 point lead in the second half and had difficulty defending Augusta’s three-point shooting.

Keshun Sherrill scored 28 of his 33 points in the second half, going 6-9 from behind the arc to pull the Jaguars within a single possession.

With the post-Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet era starting on Saturday afternoon, the Shockers hung on 73-67 with the help of a team-high performance of 24 points from junior center Shaquille Morris on Saturday.

“It was a bit about what we expected,” WSU head coach Gregg Marshall said. “Augusta is a very good team with an All-American, they never quit. The positives are we were able to execute when the game is on the line and get some quality shots.”

The Shockers gained possession of the ball first at tip off, but Augusta was the first to get on the board with a two. WSU and Augusta went back and forth for the lead until a dunk from Morris secured their lead for the rest of the first half. They lead at halftime 41-25.

Morris, the 6-8 center, lead the team with 12 points and one block for the first half.

“It was an okay game,” Morris said. “I just wanted to come out and execute, D-up with my teammates.”

The Shockers came back strong at the beginning of the second half with a steal by junior Conner Frankamp, leading to a dunk by Morris. Frankamp then regained possession of the ball and made a three giving them a 46-25 lead.

In the last five minutes of the second half WSU lost its focus, with their lead being cut to 10 points. Sherrill made two free throws, two corner threes and added a two point jump shot to cut the deficit to one.

“I think it all really started with our defense,” Morris said on trying to regain control of the game. “The guards, they had to come out and guard number 10 [Sherrill]. He was relentless in scoring.”

Marshall put Morris back in the game after the final media timeout in regulation. Morris knocked in a layup and chipped in a free throw to extend the lead 69-65 and scored another layup off a post feed to put the Shockers up by six with 2:23 left.

After Sherrill hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to four points, Morris got the offensive rebound as the ball was in the air and slammed it down for the dunk to electrify the crowd and give the Shockers the victory.

“They get it to a one point game, we have to execute,” Marshall said. “We switched everything at the end.”

Redshirt freshman Landry Shamet, in his first game in a year with the Shockers since his ankle injury, came back scoring 12 points with seven assists with only one turnover.

“It was tough, it was a good challenge early on,” Shamet said on coming back to play Augusta. “I like that challenge that kind of got me going early. I’m just looking forward to getting back to the defensive end and getting those stops, especially with what we got going.”

The Shockers will open up their regular season against South Carolina State at Koch Arena on Friday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.