Two seniors who took very different paths to Senior Night but have equally compelling stories were celebrated by the Valparaiso University men's basketball team prior to Wednesday's 76-65 setback to Bradley in the home finale at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
 
Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian Academy [Olivet Nazarene]) played in front of his hometown fans one more time. An attendee of the Valpo men's basketball kids camps growing up, Schmidt transferred into the program this season to play his fifth year of college basketball at the Division-I level in his hometown.
 
Meanwhile, Darius DeAveiro (Kanata, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada / Orangeville Prep) played in his 116^th game donning the brown and gold over four seasons, serving as the longest-tenured member of the program, player or coach. The selfless point guard has over twice as many career assists as made baskets and has helped make a lot of nights over the last four years all about his teammates, but this was your night, Darius. The normally stoic and reserved DeAveiro was emotional when he addressed the crowd following the game, reflecting on his four years as part of the campus community.
 
How It Happened

• DeAveiro started his Senior Night by making the team's first basket, then assisted on a Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year]) triple that gave Valpo an early 5-2 edge.
• Bradley gained the lead but it remained close in the early going. Sophomore Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) dialed one in from distance to make it 12-11, cutting the Bradley lead to one with 12:28 on the clock.
• Freshman All Wright (Durango, Mexico / Link Year) made back-to-back layups at the midway mark of the half, the second one an impressive finish despite being fouled, putting the Beacons ahead 15-14.
• The game continued to seesaw back and forth. Wright swished a 3 with 7:25 on the first-half clock to tie the game at 20, and a moment later Schwieger's hook put the Brown & Gold back in front.
• With 4:09 left in the first half, redshirt sophomore Isaiah Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz. / Davidson Academy [GCU]) nailed a trey to cut the Bradley lead to one, and then Schwieger followed by draining a go-ahead 3, and the Beacons remained in front for the half's duration, holding a 29-28 lead at the break.
• Wright made a 3 early in the second half, increasing the Valpo lead to four. The game fluctuated between a one-possession Valpo lead and a tie until Bradley took the lead at 42-40 with 15:07 on the clock. A 9-0 run made it a six-point Bradley lead at 46-40. A 10-0 run pushed the margin to 13 at 56-43 with 12:02 remaining.
• The Beacons battled to within seven when Schwieger put one in from distance at the 8:23 mark, but the lead teetered between eight and 10 the rest of the way up until a 3 in the final minute by Duke Deen pushed the final margin to 11.

Inside the Game

• After going 0-for-7 from 3 in the first half, Bradley heated up by making six of its first seven 3s in the second half and finishing the half at 7-of-15.
• Schwieger totaled 21 points, his 21^st straight game with 12 or more and his seventh game this season with 20+ points. He tallied three blocks to move into sole possession of 10^th on the program' single-season block list with 44. He ranks 10^th in program history with 82 career blocks.
• Schwieger increased his career point total to 449, moving past Raitis Grafs and Tracy Gipson and into seventh in program history for points by a sophomore.
• Wright had 17 points, his fifth straight game with 17 or more.
• Schmidt had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting on his Senior Night, his second straight double-figure scoring output.
• DeAveiro dished out three assists, moving into sole possession of sixth in program history.
• Sepp squeezed six rebounds, a team high.
• Valpo had a rare rough outing at the free-throw line, going just 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) after entering the game ranked eighth nationally.
• Valpo won or tied the turnover battle for the 23^rd time in 30 games and had its 20^th game this season with 10 turnovers or fewer, holding an 11-10 edge in that category.
• The Beacons made 10 3-pointers, shooting 41.7 percent from distance.
• Bradley's Duke Deen had 19 points on 7-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-8 from 3. Darius Hannah paced the Braves with 22 points and nine rebounds.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
Valpo (13-17, 6-13 MVC) will close out the regular season on Sunday by visiting UIC at 2 p.m. in Chicago. The game will air on ESPN+.