The Valparaiso University men's basketball team forced double overtime in a road game against the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference, but ultimately the Beacons fell 81-75 to Bradley, which improved to 11-2 and extended its home winning streak to 11. This was the closest Valpo has ever come to a victory at Carver Arena in Peoria, Ill. as the Beacons fell to 0-8 all-time when visiting the Braves. Sophomores Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year] and Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) shined as Schwieger poured in 21 points while Sepp delivered a double-double.  
 
How It Happened

• Valpo got off to a good start from long range as Sepp, Schwieger and Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian) all hit triples in the first nine minutes of the game. Schmidt's tied the game at seven, then Sepp's gave Valpo the lead at 10-7 with 14:09 left in the half.
• After Sepp's 3, the Beacons led for the next nine minutes, building the bulge as high as seven on Schwieger's 3 at the 11:33 mark.
• A step-back jumper by MVC Preseason Player of the Year Duke Deen gave Bradley its first lead at 23-22 with five minutes to go in the half. Valpo battled back in front, but Connor Dillon hit consecutive 3s for the Braves to put the hosts back ahead by five. Valpo appeared to be on the verge of getting into the locker room down just three, but Deen hit a miraculous 3 from just beyond the opposite free-throw line as the buzzer sounded to end the first half, helping Bradley go into the locker room up six at 36-30.
• Early second-half 3s by Deen and Zek Montgomery helped Bradley open up its first double-figure lead with just two minutes elapsed in the second stanza. Bradley still led by eight with eight minutes to go in regulation and by seven with seven minutes on the clock at 57-50. The Beacons rattled off nine straight points to take a 59-57 lead.
• Schwieger gave Valpo the lead with a layup with a minute to go to make it 63-61, but Darius Hannah tied the game with 32 seconds left. Both teams had chances to win it in the closing seconds, but both came up empty, and regulation reached its end with the score deadlocked at 63.
• Valpo trailed by five at 69-64 with 90 seconds to go in the first overtime. Schmidt hit a crucial 3 to cut the lead to two, and later senior Darius DeAveiro (Kanata, Ottawa / Canada / Orangeville Prep) knocked down a big-time triple with 56 ticks to go to make it 71-70 Bradley. Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro (LaSalle, Quebec, Canada / Orangeville Prep) was fouled with under five seconds on the clock and Valpo down one. He split his free throws and Valpo got a stop at the other end, sending the game to a second overtime.
• The Beacons struggled to shoot in the second overtime, as Bradley scored the first six points to open up a 77-71 lead. Schwieger cut it to four with a 3 with 53 seconds to go, but that was Valpo's lone made field goal of the second OT and Bradley would go on to win it by six.

Inside the Game

• This marked Valpo's best performance ever in Peoria as the Beacons are 0-8 all-time when visiting the Braves. Prior to Sunday, which was Valpo's first road game against the Braves under head coach Roger Powell Jr., five of Valpo's seven all-time losses at Bradley had come by 20+ points, and the seven losses had come by an average of 23.6 points.
• Bradley extended its overall head-to-head winning streak against Valpo to seven. Coincidentally, Valpo's last victory over Bradley came in a double overtime game on Jan. 28, 2021 at the ARC with Valpo prevailing 91-85.
• This was Valpo's first overtime game of the Roger Powell Era as the team's last OT prior to Sunday was a 77-76 loss at Murray State on Feb. 26, 2023. The Beacons played their first double overtime game since Feb. 4, 2023 vs. Drake (L 85-82). Valpo has now dropped each of its last five overtime games.
• Bradley has played double overtime just twice in the last nine seasons and both have come against Valpo.
• Sepp had 11 points and 15 rebounds, both season highs. His 15 boards outdid his previous career high of 12 set on Dec. 6, 2023 at Central Michigan. This marked Sepp's first career double-double as he recorded Valpo's fifth double-double of the season and became the third different Beacon with a double-double this year.
• Sepp became the first Valpo player with a 15-rebound game since Jaxon Edwards on Nov. 17, 2023 at Illinois and just the fifth different Valpo player with 15 rebounds in a game in the last decade as Sepp and Edwards are joined by program greats Ben Krikke, Javon Freeman-Liberty and Alec Peters (five times).
• Sepp became the first Valpo player since Krikke on Jan. 24, 2021 at Illinois State to notch a 15-rebound double-double.
• Sepp's big day came on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting and he knocked down his lone 3-point attempt of the game. Six of his 15 boards came on the offensive glass, and he also dished out three assists, tying a season high. His 11 points marked his first time with more than seven this season, while he notched his fourth double-figure rebounding game and his second straight.
• Schwieger finished with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with six rebounds despite having his first-half run limited to seven minutes due to foul trouble. He had just four points at the break. Schwieger has scored at least 16 points in four straight games, has three straight with 19 or more and has scored 20 or more three times this season including each of his last two.
• De La Cruz Monegro had only two points at halftime but finished with 17 points despite a tough shooting day. He did a good chunk of his damage at the foul line, where he was 8-of-10. He has scored at least 13 points in five straight games and nine or more in all 13 games this season.
• DeAveiro had two assists, moving into a tie with Rob Cavanaugh (1990-94) for 11^th in program history with 329. He is one away from moving into the program's all-time top 10 by drawing even with Matt Kenney (2009-13).
• Schmidt threatened a double-double with nine points and a season-high eight rebounds.
• Valpo is 0-2 in league play but the losses have come by six points apiece against the league's top two teams according to both NET and KenPom. For further context, Bradley's other MVC game was a 23-point road win at Southern Illinois, and Drake improved to 2-0 in the league with a 19-point victory over Belmont on Sunday.

Up Next
Valpo (7-6, 0-2 MVC) will return to action on New Year's Day against Missouri State at 7 p.m. in Springfield, Mo. The game will air on ESPN+.