WICHITA, Kan. — Ben Smith scored 18 points to lead a balanced offense and help No. 19 Wichita State beat Drake 81-58 on Saturday.

Wichita State (26-4, 16-2 Missouri Valley) had already clinched the Missouri Valley championship entering Saturday, but celebrated its first title since 2006 with a victory to complete a 16-2 season.  The Shockers also avenged their only loss, a 93-86 triple-overtime thriller at Drake on Jan. 28, in their last 17 games.

Ben Simons scored 21 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, to lead the Bulldogs (16-14, 9-9).The teams traded runs in the first half, but Wichita State scored the last seven points of the half to take a 36-25 lead.Wichita State led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

CLASS 1-A First Round

Monday: Ar-We-Va (21-3) vs. Bedford (24-1), 10 a.m. LeMars Gehlen (20-4) vs. North Butler (21-1), 11:45 a.m. West Sioux (24-1) vs. Lynnville-Sully (23-2), 1:30 p.m. North Tama (21-4) vs. North Mahaska (25-0), 5 p.m.

CLASS 2-A First Round

Monday: Esterville-Lincoln Central (24-2) vs. Hull Western Christian (22-3), 6:45 p.m. West marchall (20-5), OA-BCIG (25-0), 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday: Pella Christian (21-3) vs. West Hancock (25-0), 10 a.m. Bellevue (25-0) vs. IKM-Manning (23-2), 11:45 a.m.

CLASS 3-A First Round

Tuesday: Dubuque Wahlert (20-4) vs. Sioux City Heelan (23-1), 1:30 p.m. Bondurant-Farrar (22-2) vs. MOC-Floyd Valley (25-0), 5 p.m. Glenwood (22-1) vs. Davenport Assumption (22-2), 6:45 p.m. Ballard (18-6) vs. Benton (24-0), 8:30 p.m.

CLASS 4-A First Round

Wednesday: Iowa City High (17-6) vs. Iowa City West (22-1), 10 a.m. Waukee (19-5) vs. Mason City (21-2), 11:45 a.m. Cedar Rapids Xavier (18-5) vs. Ankeny (20-3), 1:30 p.m. Ames (16-7) vs. Southeast Polk (23-1), 5 p.m.

Class 1A Substate Finals Saturday, February 25

• St. Albert, Council Bluffs (13-10) vs. West Monona, Onawa (18-6) at Abraham Lincoln, Council Bluffs. 7pm.
• St. Mary’s, Storm Lake (24-0) vs. Guthrie Center (15-9) at Ft. Dodge 7pm.
• Nodaway Valley (21-2) vs. Exira/EH-K (22-1) at SWCC in Creston 7pm.  (Live on KJAN AM 1220, FM 101.1, and kjan.com.  Pregame 6:45pm, Tipoff 7:00pm.)

Class 2A Substate Finals Saturday, February 25

• Clarinda (18-4) vs. Kuemper Catholic, Carroll (17-7) at Harlan 7pm.

Class 3A Substate Finals Monday, February 27

• Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City (16-6) vs. Harlan (17-6) at Denison-Schleswig 7pm.
• Dallas Center-Grimes (21-3) vs. ADM, Adel (20-3) at Johnston 7pm.

Class 4A Substate Final Tuesday, February 28

• Sioux City East vs. Lewis Central, Council Bluffs at Tyson Event Center in Sioux City 7pm.

Friday Women’s

• Creighton 74, Northern Iowa 48
• Drake 77, Bradley 65

Saturday Women’s

• Iowa State at Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena,  7pm.

Sunday Women’s

• Iowa vs. Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 2pm.

Saturday Men’s

• Iowa State at Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum, 12:45pm.
• UNI at Southern Illinois at SIU Arena at 2pm.
• Drake at Wichita State at Koch Arena at 12:30pm

Sunday Men’s

• Iowa at Illinois at Assembly Hall at 5pm. (Live on KJAN at 4:00pm with pregame)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa might be a longshot for a spot in the NIT, let alone the NCAA tournament.
 
     Yet the Hawkeyes are sure an intriguing postseason case study.
 
     Iowa (15-13, 7-8 Big Ten) has posted four wins over ranked opponents since Big Ten play began. Two of those have come in the past five days, including Thursday night’s rousing 67-66 victory over No. 16 Wisconsin.
 
     The Hawkeyes entered the game against the Badgers with an RPI of 136, not likely to be an attractive number to the NCAA tournament selection committee. But Iowa is in seventh place in the rugged, 12-team Big Ten, with three games remaining in the regular season.