ZOGRAFOU, Greece – Behind 19 points from Ronnie DeGray III, Wichita State moved to 2-0 on its Greece Foreign Tour with an 84-70 exhibition win over the University of Calgary Monday night.
DeGray scored 11 of his 19 points in the second half, including a stretch of seven straight points early in the fourth quarter to help turn a seven-point lead into a 14-point margin.
Quincy Ballard and Harlond Beverly both scored 16 points and Dalen Ridgnal added 12. Beverly did much of his scoring damage in the first half, tallying 11 in the first 20 minutes.
Wichita State grabbed an early lead, but never led by more than three until the final minute on an Isaac Abidde layup and a pair of Beverly free throws to put the Shockers up 28-22 after 10 minutes.
The trio of Ballard, Beverly and Xavier Bell combined to score the first 11 points of the second quarter to take a 39-25 lead, forcing a Calgary timeout.
After a Ridgnal layup made it 41-25, the Dinos started to claw back in, scoring nine unanswered. With the lead at seven in the closing minutes of the first half, Wichita State scored the final seven to grab a 48-34 lead at the break.
Wichita State’s offense stalled in the third quarter, leaving the door open for the Dinos. Behind a 20-9 run, the Dinos pulled within three, 57-54, forcing a Wichita State timeout. Immediately out of the timeout, Joy Ighovodja knocked down a big three-pointer and DeGray hit 1-of-2 free throws to push the lead back to seven after three quarters.
It didn’t take long for Wichita State to extend the lead back to double figures where it would stay for the final seven minutes. DeGray, Beverly, Ballard and Ridgnal combined to score all but two of the team’s points in the final period.
Wichita State wraps up its Greece exhibition tour on Wednesday, Aug. 9 at Noon CT in a rematch with the University of Calgary.