Three was a lucky number for the Valparaiso University men's basketball team on Wednesday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
 
Three Valpo players eclipsed 20 points in the same game for the first time in 11 years, jersey number three All Wright (Durango, Mexico / Link Year) led the way with a game-high 25 points and most importantly the team's winning streak extended to three on a night where the margin of victory was – you guessed it – three, 98-95 in overtime over defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Indiana State in a back-and-forth affair that featured 11 ties and 22 lead changes. With 15 games remaining, Valpo has already matched its MVC win total from last season.  
 
How It Happened

• Sophomore Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year]) drained a 3 in the early going to give Valpo the lead at 6-4, but it was a seesaw battle right from the outset. A turnaround jumper by Wright at the 16-minute mark tied the game at 10 at the first media stoppage.
• Fifth-year senior Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian Academy [Olivet Nazarene]) buried a trey at the 14:23 mark to put Valpo ahead 13-12, but the lead continued to zig and zag. Valpo did build the advantage up to five at 25-20 after a driving layup by Schwieger with 10:02 left in the opening half, but the Sycamores scored the next eight to go ahead by three.
• Valpo trailed 40-38 with under two and a half minutes to go in the first half, but the hosts closed the half on a 7-0 run including a Schwieger swish from long range in the closing ticks of the half to make it 45-40 at the break.
• The Beacons doubled up the Sycamores 14-7 in the first four minutes and change of the second half, pushing the lead to 12 at 59-47 on a bullseye from 3 by Wright with 15:27 on the timer.
• Indiana State took a bite out of the deficit by scoring the next five, but Valpo built it back to double figures when Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro (LaSalle, Quebec, Canada [Orangeville Prep [Western Michigan]) hit a pair of free throws with 11:42 remaining to make it 66-56, and the gap got all the way back to 12 when Schwieger sank another 3 at 10:38 to make it 71-59.
• Valpo still led by nine with 7:10 to play, but Indiana State scored the game's next eight points to whittle the deficit all the way down to one. Valpo ended the run when Schmidt hit two free throws to make it 80-75 at 3:44, and a Schmidt basket once again widened the margin to five with 3:09 remaining.
• The Sycamores scored the next five points to tie the game at 82, then a basket by Aaron Gray with 46 seconds to go after Valpo had split two free throws on the other end put Indiana State ahead 84-83, the first lead of the second half for the guests. Wright made a huge shot with 39 seconds to go to give Valpo the lead, then Indiana State regained it when Samage Teel scored with 21 ticks remaining.
• Valpo split two free throws with 14 seconds left, then got a defensive stop in the closing seconds to send the game to overtime tied at 86.
• The two teams traded baskets early in OT with De La Cruz Monegro and Schmidt with makes for the hosts. The Sycamores led from the 2:33 mark of OT until the 1:11 mark, but it remained a one-possession game throughout. Senior Darius DeAveiro (Kanata, Ottawa, Canada / Orangeville Prep) tied it with a driving layup at the 1:11 mark to make it 95-all.
• After a Valpo defensive stop, Schmidt's floater put Valpo back in front at 97-95 with 29 seconds remaining. Valpo got another stop, split two free throws with 14 seconds left and then secured one final stop to earn the win.
• Valpo overcame playing without two starters down the stretch as Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) fouled out with 1:28 left in regulation and Wright fouled out with 2:33 left in overtime.

Inside the Game

• Wright (25), Schwieger (23) and Schmidt (23) became the first Valpo trio to all score 20 points or more in the same game since Lavonte Dority (31), Bobby Capobiano (23) and Alec Peters (22) on Nov. 29, 2013 vs. Mercer in triple overtime.
• Valpo has matched its conference win total from last season with 15 games remaining.
• The Beacons are 5-1 in their last six games with the lone loss coming in double overtime at MVC preseason favorite Bradley.
• The Beacons hold a 3-2 record through five Valley games after starting league play 0-5 each of the last two years. The Beacons are 3-2 or better through five league games for the first time since 2019-20.
• Valpo owns a three-game winning streak in league play for the first time since January 2023 (Evansville, UIC, Illinois State).
• Valpo owns 10 wins in the first 16 games of a season for the first time since 2018-19.
• The Beacons improved to 8-2 at home, already matching the program's home win total from 2022-23 and one away from matching the program's highest home win total since 2019-20.
• Valpo has regular-season wins over Indiana State, Missouri State and UNI all in the same season for the first time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Wednesday's win snapped a four-game head-to-head losing streak as Valpo beat Indiana State for the first time since Feb. 5, 2022 (W 79-72, 2OT). The Sycamores won each of the last four matchups by 18 points or more and owned an average margin of victory of 24.8 points per game in those contests. Wednesday's win came less than a calendar year after a 40-point blowout loss to the Sycamores (101-61 on Feb. 7 of last season in Terre Haute).
• Valpo beat the defending conference regular-season champions for the first time since Feb. 13, 2020, a 70-57 victory over UNI, snapping a six-game losing streak against the defending MVC regular-season champs.
• Wright finished one point shy of his season best as the rookie tallied 26 on Dec. 14 vs. Central Michigan. He surpassed 20 points for the third time this season and first in conference play on Wednesday. He also tied a season high with four rebounds.
• Wright joined Cooper Schwieger (2023-24) and Alec Peters (2013-14) as the only Valpo freshmen in the last 15 years with multiple 25-point games.
• Schwieger's 23 points represented his fourth time eclipsing 20 in his last five games. He nailed three 3s in a game for the third time this season while also securing eight boards, his seventh time this year with eight or more. The sophomore continued his stellar free-throw shooting, going 8-for-8 at the stripe, extending his made free-throw streak to 23. Schwieger is 37-for-38 at the free-throw line in his last nine games.
• Schmidt's 23 points represented a season high, surpassing his previous best of 21 on Dec. 14 vs. Central Michigan. This was his third 20-point game of the year and his third straight game in double figures. He pulled down seven rebounds, his second-highest total of the year, and went 7-of-8 at the foul line.
• De La Cruz Monegro finished with nine points, a total that he has reached in all 16 games this season.
• Each team had 12 turnovers, the 13^th time in 16 games this season that Valpo has won or tied the turnover battle.
• The Beacons shot 74.4 percent at the free-throw line (32-of-43) while the Sycamores were 18-of-31 (58.1 percent). Valpo posted a better free-throw percentage than its opponent for the 14^th time in 16 games this season.
• The 32 made free throws were Valpo's second-most of the season behind 35 vs. Northern Illinois. Before that, you have to go back to Jan. 14, 2017 at Cleveland State (32) for the last time Valpo made 32 or more freebies in a game.
• The 43 free throws attempts were Valpo's most since 44 vs. Northern Illinois on Nov. 27 of this season. Before that, you have to go back to 46 on Nov. 10, 2017 vs. North Park.
• The 98 points marked Valpo's highest scoring output against a Division-I opponent since a 117-108, triple-overtime loss vs. Mercer on Nov. 29, 2013. Wednesday marked Valpo's highest scoring output in a Missouri Valley Conference contest and the program's highest scoring output in a league game since Feb. 2, 2006, a 99-73 Mid-Continent Conference victory over Centenary.
• This marked the first time Valpo gave up 95 points or more in a victory since Dec. 21, 2010, a 103-102 win at Oakland. The Beacons had lost their previous eight games when allowing 95 points or more.
• Valpo improved to 3-44 all-time when allowing 95 points or more. In addition to Wednesday and the aforementioned game at Oakland, Valpo beat Western Illinois 104-100 on March 1, 1993.
• Indiana State snapped a 15-game winning streak when scoring 95 points or more. The Sycamores last loss when scoring 95+ was 104-96 in double overtime at Loyola Chicago on Jan. 30, 2016.
• This marked the most points allowed by the Sycamores in a conference game since Jan. 20, 2016 at Loyola Chicago (104).
• Valpo snapped a five-game overtime losing streak, picking up its first OT win since Nov. 27, 2022 vs. James Madison and first in league play since Feb. 5, 2022 vs. Indiana State (2OT).

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
Valpo (10-6, 3-2 MVC) will play back-to-back road games beginning on Saturday afternoon in Murray, Ky. as Valpo visits Murray State for a 3 p.m. start. The game will air on ESPN+.