Freshman All Wright (Durango, Mexico / Link Year) poured in a personal-best 26 points, while fifth-year senior Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian Academy) added 21 to help the Valparaiso University men's basketball team pull away for a 93-77 victory over Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The Beacons defeated a Chippewa team that entered the contest with a NET ranking of 122.
 
How It Happened

• Making his first start in a Valpo uniform, Schmidt made an immediate impact by drilling a 3-pointer on the game's opening possession. Valpo started with a 6-0 lead, but after that the bulk of the first half was played within a three-point window.
• Wright hit a triple with 9:33 left in the first half to break a 19-all tie, then connected once again from distance on the next Valpo possession to put the Beacons back ahead by three at 22-19. Wright continued to rain in the 3s at the 7:24 mark of the first half to lift the lead to four.
• A bit of a drought from the Beacons helped CMU score the next six points to take a 27-25 lead. A burst off the bench from freshman Justus McNair (Joliet, Ill. / Joliet West) aided the Beacon cause in the final two minutes of the first half. Schmidt hit another big 3 with 22 seconds left of first-half time, breaking a 31-31 tie. The second technical foul of the half against the Chippewas helped Schmidt add two free throws in the final seconds of the half to put Valpo up 36-31 at the break.
• Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz. / Davidson Academy) hit a 3 early in the second half to put Valpo ahead 41-38. The Beacons built up a six-point edge, but the Chippewas came back to tie it at 49 with 13:23 on the clock.
• The game was still tied at the midway mark of the second half when Schmidt swished a 3 to put Valpo ahead 57-54.
• Sophomore Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest) chipped in a few key buckets to help Valpo open the lead to eight. Wright drained another trey with 4:19 on the clock to give the Beacons their first double-figure advantage at 76-66. They would lead by double digits the rest of the way.

Inside the Game

• The game featured 12 ties and four lead changes and was tightly played throughout until Valpo pulled away down the stretch.
• Wright's 26 points doubled his previous career high of 13 that occurred on Nov. 27 vs. Northern Illinois. Wright went 8-for-8 at the free-throw line while draining four 3s.
• Over the last 16 seasons, Wright became just the fourth different Valpo freshman to score at least 26 points in a game, joining Cooper Schwieger (twice), Javon Freeman-Liberty, Alec Peters (three times) and Matt Kenney.
• Wright's 26 points were the most scored by a Missouri Valley Conference freshman in a game this season. The last freshman on any Valley team to score at least 26 points in a game was Cooper Schwieger on March 3, 2024 vs. Illinois State (28).
• Wright's performance was just the 13^th time nationally this season that a freshman scored at least 26 points in a game and he became just the 10^th different freshman in the nation with a 26-point performance this year. The only non-power conference freshmen in the country who have scored 26 points or more in a game are Wright and San Francisco's Tyrone Riley IV (twice).
• Schmidt delivered his second straight game with 20+ points, once again rewriting his season high by outdoing his 20 vs. Drake with 21 on Saturday. Schmidt went 7-of-8 at the free-throw line and 4-of-5 from 3-point territory. He also grabbed a season-high six rebounds. Schmidt is now shooting 91.2 percent (31-of-34) from the free-throw line this season.
• Junior Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro (LaSalle, Quebec, Canada / Orangeville Prep) tallied a season-high 16 points including an 8-for-8 free-throw shooting performance. He has scored at least nine points in all nine games this season including seven double-figure performances.
• Sophomore Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) squeezed 11 rebounds, matching his season high set on Nov. 24 vs. Eastern Illinois and one shy of his career high that was established in last year's matchup with the Chippewas. Sepp has at least seven rebounds in six of his nine games.
• The Beacons continued their stellar free-throw shooting, going 28-of-31 (90.3 percent) at the line. Valpo has shot 79 percent or better in seven out of nine games and has now shot over 90 percent at the stripe twice this year. The Beacons are shooting 82 percent at the foul line overall in 2024-25.
• This marked the first time Valpo shot 90 percent at the foul line with a minimum of 30 attempts since Nov. 29, 2013 vs. Mercer (29-32 FT, 90.6 percent).
• Valpo's 11 made 3s on Saturday tied a season high set on Nov. 8 vs. Concordia Ann Arbor.
• The team overcame a rare high turnover number as the Beacons gave it away a season-most 16 times, but they did record a season-best nine steals.
• Valpo handed Central Michigan its most lopsided loss of the season after the Chippewas had previously not fallen by double figures, with the only setbacks by one against Stony Brook, eight against Marquette and three against Minnesota.
• The 93 points were the most allowed by Central Michigan since Dec. 9, 2023 at Creighton (109). The Chippewas were allowing just 67.5 points per game entering Saturday, second in the Mid-American Conference and 95^th nationally.
• The 93 points marked Valpo's most against a Division-I opponent since Nov. 15, 2017 at SIUE (94) and the most against a Division-I opponent at the ARC since Jan. 22, 2017 vs. UIC.
• Valpo held a 35-33 rebounding advantage against a Central Michigan team that entered the contest leading the MAC and ranked 27^th nationally in rebounding margin at +8.6 per game.
• The home team has won 10 straight matchups between Valpo and Central Michigan.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
The Beacons (5-4) will visit Ohio State on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on Peacock.