Box Score In March, survive and advance is all that matters.
 
The Valparaiso University men's basketball team survived a 20-0 run from UNI to upset the third-seeded Panthers 64-63 on Friday night at the Enterprise Center, advancing to the semifinal round of Arch Madness, the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis.
 
Fittingly after two wins over the last two days where defense played a crucial role, it was a defensive stand that sent the Beacons to their most significant win yet of the Roger Powell Jr. head coaching era, as sophomore standout Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year]) blocked a driving layup attempt by UNI star Tytan Anderson with four seconds left, and then a second-chance try and another tip-in were both off the mark to send the Valpo fan base into a state of euphoria.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo did not score prior to the first media timeout, but the stout defense from Thursday's win over UIC carried over to the game's early stages, as UNI missed six of its first seven shots. The Panthers led 2-0 with 15:30 to go in the opening half as the two teams combined for a 1-for-14 start.
• Freshman All Wright (Durango, Mexico / Link Year) hit a 3 to get Valpo on the board, but UNI followed with a 7-0 run that caused a Valpo timeout at the 12:28 mark of the first half with the Beacons chasing 11-3.
• After trailing 14-8 at the 9:07 mark of the first half, Valpo scored the game's next nine points, including a traditional 3-point play by Wright that made it 23-18 at the 6:21 mark. A 3 by redshirt sophomore Isaiah Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz. / Davidson Academy [GCU]) gave Valpo its largest lead to that point at 29-22 with 4:27 on the first-half clock.
• A tip-in dunk by Schwieger gave Valpo its first double-digit lead of the night at 34-24 with 2:37 left in the opening half.
• The Beacons made their final five shots of the half including a pair of 3s by Wright and one by Schwieger. Wright hit a triple in the closing seconds of the half to polish off a first half where he poured in 20 points and went 5-of-5 from 3.
• Valpo scored seven of the first nine points of the second half, stretching the lead to 52-34 before the Panthers hit a 3 and then called timeout at the 16:52 mark.
• Coming out of that timeout, driving layups by Wright and Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian Academy [Olivet Nazarene]) expanded the lead all the way to 19 at 56-37.
• UNI went on a 20-0 run to take a 57-56 lead, hitting the go-ahead 3 with 8:11 left in the second half.  
• Senior Darius DeAveiro (Kanata, Ottawa, Canada / Orangeville Prep) ended an eight-minute scoring drought with a go-ahead jumper at 6:42 to put Valpo back in front 58-57. Valpo went up by three after a Schwieger basket made it 60-57, but at the final media timeout with 2:45 remaining, the game was tied at 60.
• Wright's jumper with 1:57 to go put Valpo back in front 62-60. Anderson drove to the basket and scored to make it 62-62. Wright's driving layup with 48 seconds to go put Valpo ahead 64-62, then Anderson split a pair of free throws with 39 seconds on the clock. Valpo ran off the majority of the 30-second shot clock before missing a shot with 13 seconds to go, setting up the final frenzy described in the open.

Inside the Game

• Wright totaled a game-high 29 points on 11-of-24 shooting and 6-of-10 from 3. He did the bulk of his damage in the first half, scoring 20 points before the break including 5-of-5 from 3.
• Schwieger recorded a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds with five blocked shots. This marked his league-most 10^th double-double of the season and his third consecutive double-double including two at Arch Madness.
• Valpo now has 15 wins this season, the program's highest total since capturing 19 victories in 2019-20.
• The Beacons have advanced to the semifinals of Arch Madness for the first time since 2020 and the second time since joining the league.
• Valpo will play in three or more conference tournament games in the same season for the first time since 2019-20 and just the second time since 2010-11. Valpo needed to win just twice to garner Horizon League titles in 2013 and 2015.
• Valpo beat the Panthers in both matchups this year, winning back-to-back games in the series for the first time ever in 40 all-time meetings between the two teams. Valpo improved to 2-0 this season against UNI after entering the season 5-33 all-time against the Panthers.
• Wright's six made 3s were the most by a Valpo player since Maximus Nelson had six on Feb. 4, 2023 vs. Drake.
• After tying for third in Arch Madness history for single-game blocked shots and recording the first six-block performance in an MVC Tournament game since Wichita State's Shaquille Morris on March 4, 2016 to start the tournament on Thursday vs. UIC, Schwieger added five more rejections on Friday. In just two games, he already ranks third in Arch Madness history for blocked shots in a tournament with 11, behind only Creighton's Benoit Benjamin (20, 1984) and Creighton's Gregory Echenique (13, 2013).
• Valpo made 11 3s, tying a season high against a Division-I opponent and marking the most made against an MVC squad this year. The Beacons drained 10 of those triples prior to halftime.
• Wright scored 20 points or more for the ninth time in the last 12 games. He delivered his third game with 29 points or more this season and was three points shy of tying a career high.
• Wright climbed into a tie for sixth in Missouri Valley Conference history for points by a freshman with 502.
• Prior to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, there had only been 15 total performances in the nation this season where a player recorded at least 17 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Now, Schwieger has done so in each game of the MVC Tournament so far.
• Valpo has blocked 17 shots as a team in the conference tournament so far, already the seventh most in Arch Madness history with all six teams in front of Valpo on that list having played three games and Valpo having recorded 17 in two games thus far.
• Schwieger, who has scored at least a dozen points in 24 straight games, moved past Dave Redmon (1992-93, 509) on Valpo's sophomore scoring list on Friday. With 517 points this season, Schwieger now ranks fifth in program history for points by a sophomore.
• Schwieger surpassed Bryce Drew (1994-96, 912) for career points scored before the end of a sophomore season. Schwieger is up to 926 points, the third most in program history prior to the end of a sophomore season.
• Schwieger continues to climb Valpo's blocked shots chart as well. His five on Friday give him 94 in his career, already tied for seventh in program history. He is up to 66 this season, now tied for fifth in single-season program history.
• The Beacons committed just six turnovers (only one in the first half), winning the turnover battle 11-6. This marked the fifth time this season that Valpo has had six turnovers or fewer. The Beacons won the turnover battle for the 26^th time in 33 games and had 10 turnovers or fewer for the 23^rd time.
• Valpo picked up its second one-point win of the season, joining Jan. 1, a 73-72 victory at Missouri State. Prior to this season, Valpo had dropped five straight one-point games and hadn't prevailed by the slimmest of margins since 2021.  
• Through eight Arch Madness games, there are two upset victories, both by Valpo.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
Valpo (15-18) will take on second-seeded Bradley at 5 p.m. on Saturday night for a spot in the MVC title game. The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.