(AP) NEW YORK -- The players flooded off the Wichita State bench, jumping together near the corner of the floor. Gregg Marshall smiled and pumped his fist. A few thousand fans dressed in yellow stood on their feet, cheering for a championship.

J.T. Durley and Graham Hatch scored 12 points each to lead a balanced offense, and the fourth-seeded Shockers simply overwhelmed top-seeded Alabama 66-57 on Thursday night to win the NIT championship at Madison Square Garden.

Hatch was 4 for 4 from beyond the arc, including back-to-back shots in the closing minutes, as Wichita State (29-8) finished up a remarkable postseason run in style.
"We obviously, as a team, have gone through a roller coaster," Hatch said. "We came back from those disappointments, we pulled together, and it's just magical. It's unbelievable."

Fast Facts  -- ESPN Stats & Information

• After earning its first NIT win at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, Wichita State earned its first NIT championship by beating Alabama Thursday.

• The win gave the Shockers their 29th win of the season, which is a school record.

• With the loss, Alabama ties New York University and Notre Dame for the most NIT semifinal or final appearances without winning a championship with six.

• J.T. Durley and Graham Hatch each had 12 points to lead Wichita State.

After getting left out of the NCAA tournament -- and after hardly any critics argued on their behalf -- the Shockers left little doubt they should have been selected. They beat Nebraska by 27 points, won at Virginia Tech, beat College of Charleston, then set a school record for wins in a season with a 75-44 romp over Washington State in the semifinals.

They added one more victory against the Crimson Tide.  "Give them credit. They made the plays they needed to make," said Alabama coach Anthony Grant, who plans to return home and watch his former team, VCU, play in the Final Four this weekend. The Rams face Butler on Saturday.

"I'm really proud of what our guys were able to accomplish over the course of the season," Grant said. "We grew, and we learned over the course of the year, and I think as a basketball team we got better, and really as a coach, that's what you want to be able to do."

Tony Mitchell had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Alabama (25-12), though he didn't get much help. Leading scorer JaMychal Green struggled with foul trouble and finished with 12 points, and Trevor Releford and Charvez Davis had 10 each.

Alabama briefly pulled ahead in the second half on a free throw by Chris Hines with 15:06 left, but Wichita State answered with eight straight points to regain control.

Green went to the bench with his fourth foul during the run, and the lead never fell below five points the rest of the way, even when he finally checked back in.  Any doubt about the outcome was erased when Hatch hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:13 remaining that extended the lead to 61-52. On the Shockers' next possession, Hatch set up from the same spot and knocked down another 3-pointer.

The two clutch shots helped him earn the tournament MVP award.

"The ball was in the air forever, literally, it seemed to me," Marshall said of the two 3-pointers. "The ball with its arc, the majestic rotation, and it found the bottom of the net."

Both teams certainly wish they'd made the NCAA tournament, but they took advantage of the chance to keep playing through March. They both brought pep bands and cheerleaders, along with a couple thousand fans, despite visiting arguably the most expensive city in the country.

The two teams sure played as if they belonged in the other, more prestigious postseason tournament in the first half. They combined to shoot 50 percent from the field, made all 14 of their combined foul shots and played well enough on defense to force 18 turnovers.
Wichita State managed a 37-34 lead largely because it got the pace going in its favor. The Crimson Tide came in allowing just over 59 points per game, eighth-best in the nation, while the Shockers are 15-0 the past three-plus seasons under Marshall when they score 80 points.  They didn't get there this time. It turned out they didn't need to.

"A special group of guys that deserves everything they have coming," said Marshall, noting his team shot 50 percent for the game. "We're going to play defense and we're going to rebound, and when the ball goes through the basket at that type of clip, we can play with anyone."

They proved that earlier in the year, too.  Wichita State led Connecticut for about 37 minutes at the Maui Invitational, then lost to VCU on a last-second free throw in a Bracketbusters game. The Shockers also lost a tough game to San Diego State, which earned a No. 2 seed to the NCAA tournament.

The Shockers returned four starters from a team that lost in the NIT last season, and were the class of the Missouri Valley much of the year. They wound up losing to eventual champion Indiana State in the league tournament, though, and a down year for the conference hurt their chances of an at-large NCAA tournament bid. They made the most of their chance to play in the NIT.

"This is what you do it for, these moments," Hatch said with a smile. "We were disappointed in our conference tournament, so to have this opportunity to win such an amazing tournament as the NIT, this atmosphere, I couldn't imagine it."

STILL ALIVE
Just eight total teams have either ended the year with a championship or are still competing.  The MVC is the only league with multiple teams in that category.

MVC – Creighton (CBI), Wichita State (won the NIT)
Big East – Connecticut (NCAA)
CAA – VCU (NCAA)
Horizon – Butler (NCAA)
SEC – Kentucky (NCAA)
Pac 10 – Oregon (CBI)
WCC -- Santa Clara (won the CIT)
 

FOUR-STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
A Missouri Valley Conference team has played in a post-season national championship game in each of the past four years.

2008 -- Bradley (CBI)
2009 -- Bradley (CIT)
2010 -- Missouri State (CIT)
2011 -- Wichita State (NIT) & Creighton (CBI)

 
15 POST-SEASON CHAMPIONS
In the history of the MVC, league teams have combined for 15 different post-season championships in men's basketball.
 
MVC National Champions
1922 -- Kansas (Helm's Foundation)
1923 -- Kansas (Helm's Foundation)
1945 -- Oklahoma State (NCAA)
1946 -- Oklahoma State (NCAA)
1948 -- Saint Louis (NIT)
1957 -- Bradley (NIT)
1960 -- Bradley (NIT)
1961 -- Cincinnati (NCAA)
1962 -- Cincinnati (NCAA)
1964 -- Bradley (NIT)
1975 -- Drake (National Commissioner's Invite)
1981 -- Tulsa (NIT)
1982 -- Bradley (NIT)
2010 -- Missouri State (CIT)
2011 -- Wichita State (NIT)

 
ONLY FOUR TIMES PREVIOUSLY
Since 1939 (the first year with at least two post-season tournaments), a team from the same league has won two post-season tournaments only four times.  CCNY won both the NIT and NCAA titles in 1950 and remains the only team to win two national titles the same season.  In 1954, two independents won titles (LaSalle/NCAA; Holy Cross/NIT).  [Notably, St. John's NIT title in 2003 was vacated, and Syracuse won the NCAA that year.  Both teams are in the Big East Conference.]  Following Wichita State's NIT crown this year, a Creighton win in the CBI on Thursday would put the MVC in that group.
 
1950 -- Metropolitan New York (CCNY/NCAA; CCNY/NIT)
1979 -- Big Ten (Michigan State/NCAA; Indiana/NIT)
1992 -- ACC (Duke/NCAA; Virginia/NIT)
2006 -- SEC (Florida/NCAA; South Carolina/NIT)