Valparaiso held an
eight-point lead midway through the first half and trailed by just three at
halftime, but Cleveland State shot at a staggering 82.4% clip in the second
half to hold off the Crusaders, 71-64.
The Crusaders were the ones
that got out to a hot start on the offensive end, canning seven of their first
nine shots from the field en route to taking a 19-11 lead midway through the
opening stanza. Sophomore guard Michael Rogers (Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption
[N.Y.] Christian) stood out during the run, throwing down a highlight-reel dunk
on the fast break while getting fouled en route to nine early points. His triple with 10:05 remaining in the half gave
Valpo its largest lead to cap the run.
“I thought that first ten
minutes or so was some of the best basketball we could have played,” said
Crusader head coach Homer Drew. “Mike really did a good job getting us off to
that great start, and Urule and De’Andre both made some big plays as well near
the beginning.”
A Cameron Witt (Launceston, Tasmania, Australia/Launceston) tip dunk
pushed the Crusader lead back out to six points at 23-17 with 7:05 remaining in
the opening stanza, but the Vikings scored nine straight points over the next
four minutes to take the lead. De’Andre Haskins (Long Beach, Calif./La
Lumiere [Ind.] School) slowed the momentum with a 3-pointer at the 2:47 mark to
tie it at 26, and Urule Igbavboa (Oakdale,
Minn./Tartan) again knotted it up at 28 with a layup with 53 seconds
remaining. But that was the last time
Valpo would hold a share of the lead, as George Tandy sent Cleveland State
into the break with a 31-28 lead thanks to an old-fashioned 3-point play.
“Cleveland State
came back at us with a good bit more defensive intensity after that opening
run, starting the full-court press, and we did not handle it very well,” said
Drew. “We just were not mentally tough
enough to stop them from going on a run, and once they got going, we could not
slow them down.”
A 3-point play by Igbavboa
2:27 into the second half brought the Crusaders back within two points, but Cleveland State scored the next eight points over
a 3:26 span to pull ahead by double figures.
The lead hovered around the ten-point mark for much of the second half
until a late 10-0 run, capped by a J’Nathan Bullock layup, put the Vikings
ahead 65-48 with 2:42 to play.
Valpo had one last rally left
in it, however. A pair of free throws by
Haskins and a triple by Rogers
made it 65-53 with 1:31 remaining. Erik Buggs (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell)
came up with a steal on the next defensive possession and got the ball ahead to
Haskins for a fast-break layup with 48 seconds left. After CSU missed the front end of a
one-and-one, the Crusaders missed a triple, but a Viking turnover gave them the
ball back, and Igbavboa banked in a 3-pointer to make it 65-58 with under 30
seconds to play. But despite a 3-point
play from Haskins and a triple by Buggs in the final 30 seconds, Valpo could get
no closer than five, as Cleveland
State went 6-for-6 from
the foul line the rest of the way.
“I was really proud of the
way we ended the game,” said Drew. “We
finished really strong, running our end-of-game plays and fouling when we
needed to foul. I loved the fact we did
not quit or give up, even when we were down 17 late.”
Haskins and Rogers tied for
team-high scoring honors with 18 points apiece, as each of them connected on
6-of-10 shots from the field. Igbavboa
added 17 points and team-high totals of eight rebounds and four assists.
Bullock led all players with
25 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while Tandy chipped in 15 off the bench for
Cleveland State (21-9, 12-5 Horizon) in the winning effort. Norris Cole added 11 points and six assists,
while D’Aundray Brown scored ten points and pulled down nine rebounds. The Vikings shot at a 61.0% (25-of-41) clip
for the game, helped by their sterling second half, while the Crusaders hit
51.1% (24-of-47) of their shots.
Valparaiso (8-21, 4-13 Horizon) closes out the regular season at
home on Saturday evening as the Crusaders host Youngstown State
at 7:05 p.m. It will be Senior Night at
the ARC, as seniors Igbavboa and Jake
Diebler (Upper Sandusky, Ohio/Upper
Sandusky) will
be recognized before the game and will address the crowd following the
contest. As always, all the action can
be heard live on the Valpo Sports Radio Network (WVUR, 95.1 FM, Valparaiso; WAKE, 1500 AM, Valparaiso;
WEFM, 95.9 FM, Michigan City)
and online at www.valpoathletics.com.
Live video and statistics will also be available through the official Crusader
website.