A 10-game game head-to-head losing streak to Bradley is history as the Valparaiso University men's basketball team continued to clear program hurdles on Wednesday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
 
The energy that has returned to the ARC was apparent yet again, as the Beacons built up a 15-point lead and held on for dear life to beat the Braves for the first time since 2022. A team-high 22 points from freshman JT Pettigrew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) helped Valpo equal its highest league win total since joining the Missouri Valley Conference with three games to go.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo used an early 9-0 run to jump out to a 15-5 lead with just over five minutes elapsed in the first half. Owen Dease (Evansville, Ind. / Evansville Reitz [Texas A&M Corpus Christi]) drained a 3 to spark the run. The Valpo lead got up to 11 after a Tucker Tornatta (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz Memorial) driving layup made it 17-6 with 14:04 left in the opening half.
• The Braves went on a run of their own, scoring eight straight to shrink what had been an 11-point gap to three at 19-13 with 9:33 left in the opening half.
• Valpo responded as Brody Whitaker [Greencastle, Ind. / Greencastle [University of Indianapolis / Marian]) swished triples on consecutive possessions, building the bulge back to nine at 25-16.
• The Braves scored 11 of the game's next 13 points, leveling the score at 27 on a 3 by Alex Huibregtse with 6:12 left in the half.
• Valpo built up a four-point lead again, but Huibregtse stayed hot and eventually hit a 3 with 1:03 left in the first half that put Bradley ahead by 3. Justus McNair (Joliet, Ill. / Joliet West) had the final hoop of the half and the two teams went into the locker room tied at 35.
• Huibregtse scored 17 first-half points on 6-of-7 shooting and 5-of-6 from 3, accounting for over half of the team's points and helping the Braves shoot 60 percent from the field and 70 percent from 3 over the first 20 minutes. Valpo had just three first-half turnovers.
• A trey by Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]) with 15:47 left in regulation increased Valpo's lead to four at 45-41, and a Whitaker bomb followed to make it a seven-point cushion. Bradley scored the next three before Pettigrew got in on the 3-point act to up the lead back to four with 12 minutes to play.
• Pettigrew drilled another 3 with 8:44 left, extending the advantage to 10 at 60-50. Chaney's jumper made it a seven-point Valpo run and a 12-point Valpo lead with 8:11 to play.
• Sophomore Tucker Tornatta (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz Memorial [University of Indianapolis]) contributed a few key plays to stretch the lead all the way to 15, but a 10-0 run by the guests made it 71-66 with 2:28 left.
• Valpo got stops down the stretch and did just enough at the free-throw line to escape with the victory.

Inside the Game

• Pettigrew's 22 points were one shy of a career-high 23 on Feb. 9 at Drake. He has scored 14 points or more in four straight games. Pettigrew went 7-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the stripe on Wednesday.
• Pettigrew tied the program's freshman rebounding record on Wednesday, increasing his season total to 184 to move even with Raitis Grafs' 1999-2000 season. With Pettigrew's next rebound, he will move atop the program's all-time freshman list.
• Chaney scored in double figures for the sixth time in his last eight games. He also handed out five assists and squeezed five rebounds, both team highs.
• Whitaker had 12 points including three made 3s. He led the team with a plus-minus of +17.
• Junior Shon Tupuola (Brownsburg, Ind. / Brownsburg [Saint Mary-of-the-Woods]) was 5-of-7 from the floor and totaled 11 points to go along with five rebounds.
• Valpo won the rebounding battle 30-29 and the turnover battle 15-8. The Beacons have had single-figure turnovers in each of their last three games.
• Valpo has matched its highest conference win total since joining the Missouri Valley Conference in 2017-18, equaling the 2019-20 league win total of nine.
• The Beacons moved to within one win of securing the team's first double-figure MVC win total since joining the league.
• Valpo snapped a 10-game head-to-head losing streak with Bradley that dated back to January 2021. The Beacons had come close before, including a double overtime loss at Bradley last season and a five-point defeat at Arch Madness.
• Valpo picked up its fourth win in a five-game span.
• The Beacons improved to 7-1 in their last eight home games.
• Valpo garnered the team's 15^th win of the season, matching last year's overall win total.
• The Brown & Gold clinched the team's highest regular-season win total (not counting MVC Tournament) since 2019-2020.
• Valpo secured the team's 12^th home victory of the season, matching the 2019-2020 team for the squad's highest home win total since 2016-17 (15).
• Valpo shot 51 percent from the field, while Bradley shot at a 46.2 percent clip including 50 percent from 3.
• Bradley's Alex Huibregtse hit six 3s and scored 22 points.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
Valpo (15-13, 9-8 MVC) will hit the road to visit UIC on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Chicago. The game will air on ESPN+.