The Jays knocked off underdog Wichita State 63-62 in their first game of the MVC Tournament in St. Louis, Mo on Friday night.

Senior guard and 2009 MVC Player of the Year Booker Woodfox led the jays to their nail-biter victory, hitting a field goal at the buzzer to give the Jays a one-point victory. Woodfox also led the team with 17 total points on the night.

The Jays led the Shockers 36-23 at the half, and started the second half outscoring their opponents 13-6. However, the Jays couldn’t keep up their impressive run, faltering both offensively and defensively, giving up an unusually large number of turnovers and missing the majority of field-goal attempts.

The Jays ended the night hitting 25 percent of three-point attempts, and racked up 13 assists, including six by senior guard Josh Dotzler.

The Jays return to action tomorrow against the winner of the Evansville/Illinois State matchup. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:05.