FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 8 seed Wichita State never trailed en route to a 71-61 first-round win over No. 9 Temple Monday afternoon in the opening game of the American Athletic Conference Championship.

Wichita State (17-13) advances to the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship where the top seed South Florida Bulls await Tuesday at 12 p.m. CT.

DJ McCarty scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go with a career-high tying six assists and four rebounds. Trajata Colbert went for 15 points and six rebounds. Shamaryah Duncan and Ambah Kowcun both added 11 to round out the double-figure scorers.

For the third straight game, Wichita State hit the 50 percent mark from the field, going 29-for-58. Despite losing the rebound battle, Wichita State scored 21 points off 13 Temple turnovers.

Wichita State dished out 20 assists and committed only 12 turnovers.