ST. LOUIS -- After watching Shaquille Morris settle for a fadeaway jumper late in the first half Saturday, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall had some pointed instruction at the next dead ball.

"Quit shooting fadeaways!" he yelled.

The 6-foot-8, 265-pound Morris listened, then spent the second half pounding Missouri State in the lane.

Scoring 16 of his game-high 21 points after halftime, Morris helped the 21st-ranked Shockers advance to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship game with a 78-63 victory over the Bears at Scottrade Center.

Conner Frankamp added 18 points for second-seeded Wichita State (29-4) and Markis McDuffie hit for 15 points as it beat Missouri State (17-16) for the third time since Feb. 9.

The Shockers meet top-seeded Illinois State (27-5), a 63-50 conqueror of Southern Illinois, in Sunday's title game.

Morris was the prime reason that Wichita State survived a solid performance from the Bears. He found the soft spots in a zone that gave Missouri State good mileage during the first half and his teammates delivered the ball to him where he couldn't be stopped.

"The coaches did a great job of running and executing our plays to get me the ball," he said, "and my teammates just found me and kind of got me going and got my confidence up. So that was pretty much it."

And it was pretty much it for the Bears, which established a 12-2 lead at the first TV timeout and trailed just 37-34 at the half before Morris bulldozed them around the basket.

"I said he should be a first team all-league guy when we played him last game," Missouri State coach Paul Lusk said of Morris, a junior who averaged 9.3 ppg this season. "He's just a very good player. There's no doubt he really wore us down inside and caused a lot of fouls."

Morris hit three quick field goals in the first four-plus minutes of the second half, then did the majority of his damage at the foul line, draining eight straight free throws. His only missed shot in the half was an acrobatic tip try late in the game.

Marshall said Morris was really good, even praising him to a couple of officials as he kept converting free throws to build the margin during the second half.

"I said, 'You would not believe how far that kid has come.' He's come a long, long way as a young man, as a student, as a person," Marshall said. "He's really playing well at a very high level, and I think he'll be a pro for however long he wants to play. I'm not sure h'’s an NBA guy, but it's been a success story to this point."

Jarred Dixon and Alize Johnson kept the sixth-seeded Bears in contention. Dixon more than doubled his 8.3 ppg average with a team-high 20, and Johnson stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

But Missouri State, which didn't wrap up its 70-64 quarterfinal win over Northern Iowa on Friday until almost 11 p.m., looked fatigued at times in the second half. It made just 9 of 26 from the field field, its shots consistently falling short, and couldn't concoct an antidote for Morris' strength and touch in the lane.

"We kind of ran out of gas in the second half," Dixon said. "We were ready to play from the start, but they're a really deep, talented team. We haven't really backed down from anybody all year, and I think we shocked the whole arena with our start."

However, Missouri State ended the day making just 37.9 percent of its shots from the field and lost the rebounding battle 39-30. Teamed with Morris' second-half dominance inside, it was too much for the Bears to overcome.

"They had a great game plan and they worked extremely hard," Marshall said of Missouri State. "We're pleased to be going to Sunday. We'll just leave it at that."

NOTES: Wichita State appeared in the MVC tourney semifinals for the eighth straight season, breaking the mark of seven set by Southern Illinois (1989-95) and Tulsa (1981-87). ... Missouri State F Alize Johnson needs one double-double to tie the school record of 18 in a season, held by Lee Campbell (1989-90). ... The Shockers have been outrebounded only six times in 32 games this season. Two of those six occurred against the Bears.