The Valparaiso University men's basketball team saw its run in Arch Madness, the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis, come to an end with a 70-65 loss to second-seeded Bradley on Saturday night at the Enterprise Center. The Beacons followed up a regular season filled with breakthrough wins and accomplishments with the team's most notable feat yet, becoming the first No. 11 seed to reach the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament since the league expanded to 12 teams.
 
How It Happened

• Bradley jumped out to an early 9-4 edge, but Valpo came back by scoring eight straight points to take a 12-9 lead. Redshirt freshman Carson Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Wright State / Link Year]) had a go-ahead triple to make it 10-9, then his sophomore twin brother Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year]) followed with a dunk to put Valpo ahead 12-9.
• The Beacons went on an 8-0 run in just over a minute to build up a 22-13 lead, forcing a Brian Wardle timeout with 12:35 left in the first half. Wright scored all eight points on that run including back-to-back triples.
• The run extended to 10-0 with Wright doing all of the scoring before Bradley finally broke through. The Beacons held a 24-13 lead after Wright's final basket of that sequence.
• Bradley responded with a 10-0 run of its own to get within one at 24-23 at the under eight media timeout of the first half. Wright knocked down two straight from the perimeter to build the lead back to seven at 30-23 with 6:19 left in the half.
• The Braves made up some ground down the final stretch of the first half, but the Beacons still held a 34-31 lead at the break.
• Bradley closed to within one at 41-40, but junior Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro (LaSalle, Quebec, Canada / Orangeville Prep [Western Michigan] hit a massive 3-pointer despite being fouled with 15:48 left in the second half, lifting the lead to four at 44-40.
• The game continued to zig and zag. Wright hit his fifth 3 to make it 47-42 Valpo. Senior Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian [Olivet Nazarene]) had a big bucket that put Valpo back up five. However, Bradley reeled off five straight to get even at 49. It was again deadlocked at 51 at the under-12 media timeout.
• Bradley took the lead at 10:36 with a traditional 3-point play to go up 54-51, the team's first lead since the 16:24 mark of the first half.
• The Bradley lead fluctuated between two and four for several minutes. The Braves led 57-55 with 7:30 on the clock at the under-8 timeout and 61-60 with De La Cruz Monegro going to the free throw line with 4:22 to go.
• De La Cruz Monegro hit all three free throws to put Valpo up 63-61 with 4:22 left. A second-chance layup by Bradley's Darius Hannah tied the game at 63 with 3:27 to play. Duke Deen put Bradley in front with a 3 with 2:45 left, then Cooper made two free throws to cut it to one with 2:21 on the clock.  
• With just under two minutes remaining, senior point guard Darius DeAveiro (Kanata, Ottawa, Canada / Orangeville Prep) went down with an injury and was helped off the court in an emotional moment for the team. A team captain, quiet leader and the longest-tenured Beacon, DeAveiro played his 120^th career game on Saturday. He played all four years of his collegiate career in a Valpo uniform and became etched in the fabric of the program as a favorite of fans, teammates and coaches alike.
• All of Bradley's scoring the rest of the game came on free throws to build the lead up to five. A pair of Valpo shots were off the mark with 35 and 31 seconds to go, putting the Beacons into a situation where they had to foul, setting up the Braves to seal the game at the stripe.

Inside the Game

• Valpo's 15 wins marks the program's highest win total since capturing 19 victories in 2019-20. The program advanced to the semifinals of Arch Madness for the first time since 2020 and second time since joining the league.
• The Beacons played three or more conference tournament games for the first time since 2019-20 and just the second time since 2010-11.
• Wright scored 24 points, bringing his three-game Arch Madness total to 75 points (25.0 ppg). He has scored 20 points or more 10 times in Valpo's last 13 games.
• Wright hit six 3s for the second straight game, finishing with 15 total for the tournament. The 15 made 3s were the second most in the history of the MVC Tournament, one shy of tying the record of 16 set by Cooper Niese in 2023.
• Wright increased his season point total to 526, climbing to fourth in Missouri Valley Conference history for points by a freshman. His total is the highest by a Valley rookie since Creighton's Doug McDermott in 2010-11 (581).
• Cooper scored 19 points, squeezed eight rebounds and had a pair of blocks. This marked his fifth straight game with 17 points or more and his 24^th straight game with a dozen or more.
• Cooper blocked 13 shots in the tournament, tied for the second most in the history of Arch Madness. Creighton's Benoit Benjamin blocked 20 shots in the 1984 MVC Tournament, while Creighton's Gregory Echenique had 13 in 2013.
• Cooper moved into fourth in single-season program history for blocked shots with his two on Saturday. He also moved into sixth in program history in career blocked shots.
• Wright and Cooper combined for 65.8 percent of Valpo's scoring in the tournament.
• After being held scoreless in three of his previous four games, De La Cruz Monegro turned in a 15-point, seven-rebound performance on Saturday.
• Valpo knocked down 10 3s in the game, the team's second straight contest in double figures in that area.
• Bradley won the turnover battle 8-6 in a game where both teams took good care of the ball.  
• Valpo shot at a higher clip from the free-throw line – 84.6 percent to 60.7 percent – but Bradley had 28 free-throw attempts to Valpo's 13.
• DeAveiro had five assists and six rebounds.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.