#9 Valparaiso (77), #8 Indiana State (55)
Records and Tournament Notes: Tonight’s game was the second straight year the #9 seed advanced to the quarterfinals.
VALPARAISO WIN: The Crusaders snapped a three-game losing streak with their first-ever MVC Tournament win in what is their second MVC tournament and beat Indiana State for the first time in three tries this season. In Improving to 15-17 for the year, the Crusaders are coming back from having lost 11 of their last 14 games in the regular season. Coach Matt Lottich is 54-43 in his third year at Valparaiso.
INDIANA STATE LOSS, the Sycamores closed their season at 15-16, losing to Valpo for the first time in three tries this season. Coach Greg Lansing is 8-8 in MVC tourney play and is 148-142 in his ninth season at Indiana State. This was ISU’s third straight MVC Tourney loss.
VALPARAISO TEAM NOTES: The Crusaders, who had a season-high 21 turnovers in their last meeting vs. Indiana State, tied a season low with seven TOs tonight. Indiana State is the fourth most common all-time basketball foe for Valpo and the Crusaders are 33-53 in 86 meetings vs. ISU. Freshman Javon Freeman had 3 steals in the game to extend his VU freshman record in that stat to 59 steals for the year. With 18 points, Markus Golder has matched his career scoring high. Valpo amassed a 27-9 margin in bench points for the game.
INDIANA STATE TEAM NOTES: Going into tonight, Jordan Barnes had a 17.0 MVC tourney career scoring average, and, he was 0/8 from the floor with no points before he got his first FG with 10:14 left in the game. Barnes finished with 10 points, all in the second half. Barnes moved into a tie for third in ISU career treys with 215 (tie with Jordan Printy from 2008-12). Tyreke Key had 20 points, his 12th game of 20 or more this season, while tying a career-best four treys.
First Half: The Crusaders pushed out to an early 12-7 lead, hitting six of their first 11 shots from the floor, and were 6/9 from two-point range. ISU hit just three of its first 10 shots. ISU surged back on a 15-2 run for a 22-14 lead with 6:50 to play, connecting on 5/6 from the field. Emondre Rickman and Tyreke Key had 13 of ISU’s points in that run. VU closed to 26-25 at the 3:00 mark and then regained the lead at 27-26 on two FTs from Markus Golder with 2:33 in the half. Javon Freeman added a dunk to make it 29-26 with two minutes left, at which point VU was on a 15-4 run. Golder added more FTs to make it 32-26 with 1:20 left. Freeman added a steal and another breakaway dunk just ahead of the buzzer for a 36-29 Valparaiso halftime lead. Valpo closed the first half on a 22-7 run. Golder was 4/6 from the floor and 6/6 from the line for 14 Valpo points in the half while Key scored 15 for Indiana State.
Second Half: Javon Freeman (10) and Bakari Evelyn (10) combined for 20 of the Crusaders’ 41 second half points. The Crusaders got early threes from John Kiser and Javon Freeman to stretch their margin to 10 at 42-32 and led 44-32 with 15 minutes to play. The lead was still 12 at 46-34 with 12 minutes left. ISU then closed the gap to 50-44 with nine minutes to play, before VU pushed back in front by 10 at 54-44 and 12 at 56-44 with 7:40 left. Freeman had a trey with five minutes left for Valpo’s biggest lead at 63-48 and then Derrik Smits scored to make it 65-48 with 4:30 left. Valpo continued its late assault to build its biggest lead, a 22-point bulge at 77-55 which was the final score.. ISU closed the game missing 8 of its last 9 shots and went the last 3:57 without a FG. ISU finished at .333 from the floor (10/30) in the second half.
