The Valparaiso University men's basketball team fell a point shy against first-place Belmont on Wednesday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center, as a valiant effort came up just short in a 78-77 setback. A game of runs saw seven ties and seven lead changes occur. Valpo led by four with 3:30 remaining in the second half, but the Bruins improved their record to 19-3 overall and 9-2 in Valley play to move into sole possession of first place in the league standings.
 
How It Happened

• The Beacons scored the game's first five points, including an early triple by Owen Dease (Evansville, Ind. / Evansville Reitz [Texas A&M Corpus Christi]).
• The game went back-and-forth right away with Belmont eventually using an 8-0 run to build up a 22-13 lead at the 12:31 mark of the first half.
• The Beacons responded with a 9-0 run of their own, including a traditional 3-point play by Justus McNair (Joliet, Ill. / Joliet West). That burst tied the game at 24 with nine minutes left in the half.
• A game of runs continued as the guests scored the next 10 points to go up 34-24 with 6:10 to play in the half. The Brown & Gold once again responded, scoring the next eight including five from Carter Hopoi (Tauranga, New Zealand / Mount Maunganui College NZ) to make it 34-32 with 3:46 on the clock.
• The Bruins scored the next five to go up seven, but Valpo fought to within four at halftime, down 42-38 at the break.
• Belmont built up a five-point edge early in the second half, but an alley-oop dunk by Shon Tupuola (Brownsburg, Ind. / Brownsburg [Saint Mary-of-the-Woods]) and a stepback trey by Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]) leveled the score at 47.
• The two teams continued to go back and forth. Valpo built up a four-point lead, then the Bruins reeled off seven straight to take a 57-53 lead with 10:26 on the clock. After Belmont led 60-56 with 9:55 to go, the seesaw nature of the contest continued as Valpo scored seven in a row to go up 64-60, culminating with a big Chaney 3-ball with 7:53 to play.
• A jumper by Dease with 3:53 on the clock put Valpo ahead by four again at 68-64. Belmont surged in front 69-68 on a 3 with 2:32 to play and hit another go-ahead shot from long range that made it 72-69 with 1:51 left.
• Valpo clawed within one as Tupuola tipped in a missed 3 with 50 seconds left to make it 72-71. The game's next four points were on Belmont free throws. Chaney hit a triple in the closing seconds to cut the lead to two, and then after two more made free throws by the Bruins, Chaney hit a deep 3 at the buzzer to make the final score a one-point game.  

Inside the Game

• This ended a four-game home winning streak for the Beacons as Valpo dropped a game at the ARC for the first time since Dec. 21 vs. Murray State. The Beacons were previously 4-0 at home in the calendar year of 2026.
• Six of Valpo's last nine losses have come by six points or fewer. Valpo has dropped its last five games decided by five points or fewer.
• This marked Valpo's first game decided by the slimmest of margins since a 64-63 win over UNI on March 7, 2025 in the quarterfinal round of the MVC Tournament. Valpo hadn't lost by a single point since 63-62 to Evansville on Feb. 3, 2024.
• Four players finished in double figures for the Beacons, led by 15 apiece from Chaney and Dease. Chaney's highest two scoring outputs in league play have both come against Belmont as Wednesday was second only to 17 on Jan. 13 in Nashville.
• Dease scored at least 15 points for the third time in his last four games and tallied doubled figures for the fifth time in his last six.
• Pettigrew contributed 11 points and a team-high six rebounds. The rookie has scored in double figures in six of his last eight.
• Tupuola went 4-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line on his way to 12 points, his highest total since 21 on Nov. 19 at Cleveland State.
• Valpo won the turnover battle 15-9, committing single-figure turnovers for the eighth time this season. Valpo has committed 11 or fewer in 16 out of 21 games.
• Fifth-year senior Brody Whitaker (Greencastle, Ind. / Greencastle [University of Indianapolis [Marian]) had a team-best plus-minus of +9 in 22 minutes.
• Hopoi was 2-for-2 from the field on his way to six points.
• This one-point loss came against The Valley's top team in terms of KenPom (66) and NET (62).
• Belmont's Eion Dillon was 7-of-11 shooting and 5-of-7 from 3 while scoring a game-high 23 points.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
Valpo (10-11, 4-6 MVC) will hit the road for the first time in a long time, playing at Indiana State on Saturday. The game tips off at noon CT.