Game 13- @Belmont

If the Drew family was to win their 1,000th carer game, it would have to come courtesy of Valparaiso and Bryce Drew, with Scott and Baylor falling to Texas A&M by 19 points. With longtime Crusaders coach Homer Drew in attendance, Valpo obliged, rolling over Missouri State 74-45 on Saturday night. Alec Peters again led the way, posting a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Tevonn Walker chipped in 18 in his first game back from injury. Seven players off the bench combined for 19 points, led by Shane Hammink with seven. The Crusaders would shoot 41.4% on threes and would lead by as much as 31 in the second half. Only one Missouri State player would break double digits (Dequon Miller with 12). Camryn Boone tacked on eight points, four rebounds, and one assist, steal, and block. E. Victor Nickerson sat out for Valparaiso with a hairline fracture in his wrist. He is expected to be out for at least a week.


Next Monday, the 28th, the Crusaders will make the trip down to Nashville, TN to take on the Belmont Bruins (7-6, 0-0 OVC), ranked 20th in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. Belmont is coming off of a last-second 67-65 defeat at Cleveland St. on Saturday. Both teams have finals this week, which is why there is a nine-day layoff between games for both the Crusaders and the Bruins.
-Valparaiso defeated Belmont 61-57 at the ARC on December 3. In that game, Alec Peters scored 17 and Keith Carter had 14 for Valpo. For Belmont, Craig Bradshaw put up 12 points and Evan Bradds added 11, with eight rebounds.
-The largest home crowd to see Belmont at the Curb Events Center this year was 3253 for a Belmont victory over Western Kentucky. This will be just the fourth home game for the Bruins this season.
-Evan Bradds still leads Belmont with 16.9 ppg and 8.8 rpg. Mack Mercer (11.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg) leads the team with eight blocks, and Austin Luke (6.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg) has tallied 84 assists this season.
-Valparaiso leads the all-time series 9-1 after the victory earlier in the season. Belmont's only victory came in Nashville, but back in 2001.
-The game will be televised on the OVC Digital Network and will be on the radio at WVUR (95.1 FM).

Game 12- Missouri State

It was a perfect night last time out for Valparaiso, in more ways than one. First off, the Crusaders rolled over Chicago State 71-53, improving to 9-2 on the year. But there were other modes of perfection. Alec Peters would be perfect from downtown, hitting all six of his three-pointers and finishing with 26 points. Peters added seven rebounds, a steal and a block. Darien Walker chipped in 12 points, three rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Seven players coming off the Crusader bench combined for 19 points, led by Shane Hammink with seven. Tevonn Walker again didn't play for Valpo with an injury. On the defensive side, Valpo held the Panthers to just 39.6% shooting from the floor. Only one Chicago State player broke double digits, with Kieran Woods scoring 14 off the bench. Trayvon Palmer added eight points and 10 boards. The battle of brothers would be won by Valpo's Jubril Adekoya (6 points, 6 rebounds) over his brother Jawed (5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist).

Today, the Crusaders will welcome the Missouri State Bears (4-6, 0-0 MVC) into the ARC. The Bears are coming off of a 85-66 victory over Oral Roberts on Wednesday night, while Valpo hasn't played in over a week (because of finals). Missouri State did defeat Oklahoma State 64-63 in Stillwater, but went 0-3 at the Puerto Rico Tipoff and lost in the MW/MVC Challenge.
-This will be just the third true road game for the Bears this season.
-Missouri St. is led by Camryn Boone (14.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Obediah Church (7.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg).
-Center Tyler McCullough (6'11") is the tallest player on the Bears' roster. Guard Dequon Miller stands just 5'10".
-Both Valpo and Missouri St. were founding members of the Association of Mid-Continent Universities, playing in the league together from 1982-1990,
-The Bears lead the all-time series 14-5. Valpo won the most recent matchup, a 62-54 victory in 2012.
-With a Valpo victory, the Drew family (Homer, Scott, Bryce) would reach 1,000 career victories. The win would be Bryce Drew's 104th.
-Today's game will be televised on ESPN3 and on the radio at WVUR (95.1 FM). Todd Ickow, David Huseman, and Brandon Vickrey will have the call on both platforms.
-Valpo is currently ranked third in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
-This will be the final home game of 2015 for the Crusaders, who won't return to the ARC until January 2, 2016 against UIC.

Game 11- @ Chicago State

Once again, it took a classic defensive effort for Valparaiso to pull out a 69-63 road win last night at Indiana State. The Crusaders locked down on defense in the first half, holding the Sycamores to 19% shooting from the floor, and leading by 10 at the break, although the lead had been as high as 12. In the second half, it was offense that Valpo needed, and though ISU would take a lead midway through the half, it was only by one, and Valpo would come back to put away a tough road victory. Free throw shooting down the stretch nearly doomed the Crusaders, but they would hit on all of their attempts in the final minute, finishing 23-32 on the game, for the win. Alec Peters was again the driving force for Valpo, tallying a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while adding two steals. E. Victor Nickerson, again starting in place of the injured Tevonn Walker, picked up 15 points as well, adding seven rebounds, an assist, and two steals, while Darien Walker and David Skara chipped in 12 points apiece. Four Crusaders combined to score 18 points off the bench, led by Skara with 12. For Indiana State, much of their damage was done by just two players. Matt Van Scyoc and Brenton Scott combined for 36 points, putting up 20 and 16, respectively. No other Sycamore scored more than six, although the ISU bench contributed 27 points. Tevonn Walker was again out for Valpo with injury.

Tomorrow night the Crusaders travel across the state line to take on the Chicago State Cougars (3-6, 0-0 WAC). The Cougars have lost five straight games, most recently falling 96-72 at DePaul on Saturday night. Chicago State has yet to beat a Division I team this season. The Cougars are led by junior guard Elliott Cole (14.3 ppg, 3.3 apg) and senior guard Kieran Woods, who leads the WAC with 2.8 steals per game. The Cougars roster also includes senior guard/forward Jawad Adekoya, the brother of Valparaiso forward Jubril Adekoya.
-Chicago State took part in the Emerald Coast Classic earlier this season, finishing 0-4 but losing their last three games by three points or less.
-The game will take place at the Jones Convention Center, which seats 7,000. The largest home crowd Chicago State has seen this season was 510 for a game against Illinois Tech.
-Valparaiso leads the all-time series between the two teams 28-3. The last meeting came as part of the Joe Cipriano Nebraska Classic in 2012, with Valpo claiming a 67-46 victory.
-The game can be streamed online at the WAC Digital Network. It will be on the radio on WVUR 95.1 FM in Valparaiso, with Todd Ickow and David Huseman on the call.
-This will be Chicago State's first home game since November 21, against Trinity International. They will begin a stretch of five games in 10 days with the game against Valpo, but won't be at home again until December 19.

Game 10- @Indiana State

When the second-largest home crowd of the season enters the ARC, and the only giveaway is a winter hat to the first 500 fans, you just know that the opponent for Valparaiso warrants attending. Thursday night was one of those games. The Belmont Bruins entered town, ranked 9th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, as the first of a home-and-home series between the Bruins and Crusaders. It turned out to be the high-quality game everyone expected, but not the shootout, high scoring, break-the-scoreboard game that has been common for Belmont. Instead, it was a close, tense, defensive affair, just the way that Valpo likes to play. The Crusaders certainly didn't play perfect, hitting just 35.4% from the floor and 6-25 (24%) on threes, but were able to grind out a 61-57 win, coming back from being four down at the under-eight timeout and scraping out the victory. Valpo was, as usual, led by Alec Peters, who put up a quiet 17 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Keith Carter was also strong, with 14 points, four rebounds, an assist, and a steal on the day. As has become a Bryce Drew custom in close games, the Crusaders only played eight players total, with David Skara, Shane Hammink, and Jubril Adekoya combining for 15 points off the bench. Skara had perhaps the biggest possession of the game with under four minutes to go, rebounding a missed free throw, then a missed runner in the lane, and finally hitting the and-one layup to help keep Valpo on top. The Crusaders defense held Belmont under 70 for the first time on the season, which looks more impressive considering the Bruins had scored 105 just two days before. Belmont was led Craig Bradshaw's 12-5-4-2-1 line, and Evan Bradds added 11 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. For the Crusaders, Tevonn Walker sat out with injury, joining Derrik Smits in the tracksuits for the day.

Next up for Valpo will be a Wednesday night fixture in Terre Haute against Indiana State. These two teams have met 79 times in their history, with ISU holding a 50-29 all-time advantage. The Crusaders and Sycamores last met in 2004, a meeting won 70-68 in OT by Indiana State. The Sycamores enter 3-4 (0-0 MVC) on the season. The Sycamores most notably beat Wyoming in the MVC-MW Challenge and went 2-1 at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. However, they have since lost their last two games, falling to Eastern Illinois, and then on the road at nationally ranked Butler on Saturday by a 85-71 score. Indiana State is led by guard Devonte Brown (14.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and guard/forward Khristian Smith (12.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg). The Sycamores do give up height in the middle, as their tallest player is just 6'9". The tallest player to have started a game for the Sycamores is Brandon Murphy (6'7", 5.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.14 bpg), who has started all seven games. The game will be at the Hulman Center, seating 10,200; the largest crowd to see a game in the arena this season, however, was just 4131. This will be Indiana State's first home game since November 16, a span of 23 days. The game can be streamed on ESPN3 and will be on the radio in Valparaiso on WVUR 95.1 FM. Todd Ickow and Aaron Leavitt will have the radio call, while the live stream will be called by Jason Pensky and Jim Waugh of WTWO in Terre Haute.

Game #9-Belmont

It's been a while since Valpo was beating up on non-D1 teams in the Beaver Showcase. Since cruising over IU Kokomo, the Crusaders have gone 2-2, with victories over Trinity Christian and Oregon State in the Showcase, but also losses to Oregon and Ball State. This four-game run began at home against the Trolls of Trinity Christian, and was a thorough no-contest. The Crusaders would become the first team in the nation to win five games, in emphatic fashion, leading by 21 at the half and cruising to an 89-42 victory. Valpo was led by Darien Walker, who had a double-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Vashil Fernandez also had a double-double, scoring 11 points to go with 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. Off the bench, Max Joseph and Lexus Williams each had nine points. Valpo held TCC to just 15 second-half points. The Trolls would be lead by Jordan Perry, who would put up 17 points, four rebounds, an assist, and a block, but Caleb Jonkman (10 points) was the only other player who scored in double figures for Trinity Christian. The game was official for Valpo, but was an exhibition for Trinity Christian.  David Skara sat out for Valpo with an injury, while Shane Hammink served the final of a two-game suspension.

The Crusaders then hit what might be their toughest test this regular season, a game at the #25 Oregon Ducks in Eugene. It was an admirable effort from Valpo, but one that would come up just short in the end by a final score of 73-67. The Crusaders had a two-point halftime lead, but would be outscored by eight in the second half to be defeated. Valpo was lead by Tevonn Walker, who tallied 14 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Alec Peters added 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal, and Darien Walker stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, four rebounds, an assist, and three steals. Off the bench, Shane Hammink had 10 points in his first game back from suspension. David Skara still didn't return from an ankle injury suffered against IU Kokomo. For the Ducks, Dillon Brooks would be the star, tallying a double-double with 26 points and 13 rebounds, adding in a steal as well. Tyler Dorsey added 21 and Elgin Cook had 13 points. The deciding factor in the game would be free throws, as Valpo attempted six, making five, while Oregon shot 17-24 from the stripe to send the Crusaders to their first loss of the season.

Valpo would conclude its West Coast swing with the de facto championship game of the Beaver Showcase against the Oregon State Beavers at Gill Coliseum. Valparaiso would lead nearly start-to-finish, leading by as much as 17 in the second half and never trailing by more than two. The Crusaders pushed to a nine-point halftime edge, and although they nearly allowed a late Oregon State comeback, Valpo hung on for a 63-57 victory. The Crusaders were led by Tevonn Walker and Shane Hammink, who tallied 15 points each. Alec Peters made an impact inside, picking up a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, adding an assist, a steal, and a block. Valpo largely limited Oregon State's offense outside of Gary Payton II, who had a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds, but needed 25 field goal attempts and three free throws to get his points. The next-highest scoring Beaver was Stephen Thompson, Jr., who scored nine off the bench. With the victory, Bryce Drew earned his 100th victory as Valpo head coach, joining his father, Homer, and J.M. Christiansen as the only coaches in school history to hit that mark.

Valparaiso would wrap up the three-game road swing back in Indiana, playing at the Cardinals of Ball State. The Crusaders would see the return of David Skara from a injury he suffered earlier in the season, but were without the services of Tevonn Walker, who was injured earlier in the week. He was replaced in the starting lineup by E. Victor Nickerson, who would contribute 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals in return. The effort to come back from a six-point halftime deficit and a Ball State lead that ballooned to 12 in the second half, the largest deficit faced by Valpo this season, was led by Alec Peters. He would score a season-high 28 points to go along with five rebounds and an assist, but it wouldn't be enough to complete the comeback. Keith Carter would miss on a last-second three, and the Cardinals would escape with a 69-66 victory, dropping Valpo to 6-2. Ball State was led by 15 points from Bo Calhoun, and Franko House added 14 and eight boards. The Crusaders would be done in by poor free throw shooting, as they shot just 13-21 for the game.

Tonight, the Crusaders will be hosting the Belmont Bruins (5-3, 0-0 OVC) in the first game of a home-and -home set. Belmont has won three of their last four games, including a 105-89 win over Lipscomb on Tuesday night. The Bruins are ranked 9th in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 and sit 76th in ESPN's RPI. Belmont is led by Evan Bradds (19.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg) and Craig Bradshaw (17 ppg, 48.1 3P%). Valpo leads the all-time series between the two teams 8-1, but the Crusaders and Bruins last met in 2002 at the ARC, an 83-65 Valparaiso victory. Belmont's only victory came in 2001 at the Curb Event Center. The game can be live-streamed on ESPN3.com and will be on the radio at WVUR (95.1 FM) out of Valparaiso. Todd Ickow and David Huseman will be on the call for both mediums. Tipoff from the ARC will be at 7:00 PM.