In an effort that fittingly encapsulated the spirit of the team this season, the Valparaiso University men's basketball team came up just short in a 90-84 double overtime loss to Bradley in Friday's quarterfinal round of Arch Madness, the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
 
The 2025-2026 team was as likeable as it was gritty, reengaging the fan base through both its countless achievements on the court and the team's personality and dynamic. Valpo gave literal blood, sweat and tears, not to mention a few teeth, this week in St. Louis, but the Braves outlasted the Beacons to punch their ticket to Saturday's semifinal.
 
In his final collegiate basketball game, fifth-year senior Brody Whitaker (Greencastle, Ind. / Greencastle [University of Indianapolis / Marian]) put together an effort that harkened back memories of John Kiser's 2020 MVC Tournament in Valpo lore. Whitaker scored 25 points and made five 3s, while freshman JT Pettigrew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) was an assist shy of Valpo's first triple-double since 2006 with 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.
 
How It Happened

• Whitaker got off to a hot start, drilling two early 3s including one with 15:26 left in the opening half that put the Beacons up 10-7. Valpo led by that score at the first media timeout at the 14:10 mark, with Whitaker scoring eight of the team's first 10 points.
• Valpo held a four-point edge at 11-7 with 14:10 left in the half, but the Braves scored the next five points to take a 12-11 lead on a tip-in dunk by Ahmet Jonovic at the 12:07 mark. Valpo freshman Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn) picked up his second foul at the 12:50 mark of the first half.
• Sophomore Tucker Tornatta (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz Memorial [University Indianapolis) made a dunk to get Valpo within one at 11:06, and later Valpo took a brief 17-16 lead on a second-chance lay-in by Pettigrew before the Braves regained the lead at 18-17 prior to the U8 media timeout.
• A flurry from sophomore Justus McNair (Joliet, Ill. / Joliet West) helped Valpo get back to even at 25-25 with 3:16 left in the first half. McNair scored six straight Valpo points and six of the game's eight points in a span of 1:13, with his last jumper squaring the score at 25.
• Dease hit a 3 at the 1:01 mark of the half to shrink the lead to one, and Valpo went into halftime tied at 31. The Beacons held the Braves to 1-of-9 from 3 in the first half, but Valpo scuffled at the foul line, going 6-of-11. Valpo had an uncharacteristic nine first-half turnovers, but held a 19-13 first-half rebounding advantage.
• Whitaker made two early shots in the second half, helping Valpo inch out to a lead of 35-33 with his second bucket before the Beacons also held a 37-34 advantage. Bradley's Montana Wheeler got the foul and the finish as Valpo went into the under-16 media timeout clinging to a 37-36 lead with the Braves shooting one free throw coming out of the timeout.
• Pettigrew hit a big triple at 13:37 of the second half to put Valpo ahead 42-39, but the Braves responded with a 3 on the other end. The game remained tightly played, and Chaney made a basket prior to the under-12 media timeout to tie the game at 44 with 11:07 remaining.
• Bradley had a three-point lead and the ball on several occasions, but Valpo got stops and then trimmed it to one on a Dease basket with 9:20 to play. Bradley made two free throws coming out of a timeout with 8:28 to play, stretching the lead to five at 51-46, the first time either team led by more than four points.
• Pettigrew responded on the other end of the court, cutting the lead to two with a traditional 3-point play.
• A dunk by Carter Hopoi (Tauranga, New Zealand / Mount Maunganui College NZ) cut the Bradley lead to three at 57-54 with 4:25 to play. The Beacons had a 3-point try that would have tied it with 3:35 on the clock, but it rimmed out, and Bradley took timeout with the lead and the ball with 3:19 on the clock.
• Bradley's Alex Huibregtse swished a 3 with 2:26 left to double the Bradley lead to six, the team's largest of the game, prompting a Valpo timeout.
• Whitaker hit a big 3 to cut the lead to three with 57 seconds left, then McNair tied the game with a triple with 23 seconds on the clock after Bradley's Johnson had missed a driving layup.
• Valpo had one final defensive stand to end regulation, as Johnson's jumper as time expired was off the mark.
• Whitaker swished a go-ahead 3 with 48 seconds left in the first overtime to put Valpo ahead 73-70, then Huibregtse responded with a game-tying 3 with 25 seconds to go. Valpo's layup and tip-in tries were off the mark, and the horn expired ending the first overtime with the game tied at 73.
• Pettigrew scored the first basket of the second overtime to give Valpo a 75-73 lead. Bradley followed with the next four points. The Braves' lead was just one at 77-76 with 2:19 left in the second overtime, but then a key 6-0 run lifted the gap to seven.
• Valpo got back within four on a dunk by Tupuola with 40 seconds to go in 2OT, but that was as close as the Beacons would get.

Inside the Game

• This marked the fourth Valpo game this season that featured a halftime tie, and two of those have come against Bradley. These teams were tied 35-35 at half on Feb. 18 at the ARC.
• This marked Valpo's fourth overtime game of the season. During the regular season, the Beacons lost 75-72 at Marquette, won 76-72 at Indiana State and won 70-63 vs. Evansville.
• This was Valpo's first double overtime game since Dec. 29, 2024, also against Bradley. These two teams have played double overtime against one another three times since Valpo joined the Missouri Valley Conference.
• This was Valpo's second overtime game at Arch Madness and first since March 6, 2020, a 74-73 victory over Loyola.  
• Whitaker scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and 5-of-8 from 3.
• Whitaker's 25 points surpassed his previous season high of 21 from Feb. 15 vs. Indiana State. His five triples matched a career best, reached most recently in the Feb. 15 game against the Sycamores.
• Whitaker scored in double figures in eight of the final nine games of his collegiate career.
• Pettigrew notched a double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds. Pettigrew's 24 points exceeded his previous career high of 23 on Feb. 9 at Drake. He finished his freshman season with nine consecutive double-figure scoring outputs and 13 straight games with at least five rebounds.
• Pettigrew also dished out nine assists, finishing one assist away from Valpo's first triple-double since Urule Igbavboa on Feb. 5, 2007 at Chicago State. Before Pettigrew's performance on Friday, the last Valpo player to come within even four assists of a triple-double was Ryan Broekhoff on Nov. 20, 2011 vs. Duquesne.
• Pettigrew became the first player nationally with at least 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in a game against a Division-I opponent this season. The last time any player in the country hit those marks in a contest against a D-I foe was two full years ago, UNC Asheville's Drew Pember (30-13-10) in an 83-72 overtime victory over Gardner Webb. Pettigrew became the first player nationally to reach those marks in a defeat since UConn's Jalen Adams on Jan. 3, 2018.
• Pettigrew became the first Valpo player with a 24-point, 13 rebound game since Cooper Schwieger did so twice last season.
• Pettigrew became the first known Valpo player with a 24-point, nine-assist game. Previously, the highest known point total for a Valpo player with at least nine assists was Nick Edwards (20 points, 12 assists) on Feb. 21, 2022 vs. Stonehill.
• The double-double was Pettigrew's sixth of the season and first since Feb. 12 at Illinois State. The 13 rebounds tied his personal best set on Feb. 12 at Illinois State.
• Pettigrew's nine assists outdid his previous season high of six on Feb. 15 vs. Indiana State.
• McNair scored 12 points, his 13^th double-figure scoring output of the season.
• Valpo committed 19 turnovers on Friday, the team's most since 21 on Dec. 2, 2025 at Marquette and second most of the season. Valpo had committed 11 or fewer in each of the previous eight games.
• On the flip side, Valpo had 19 assists on Friday, the team's most against a Division-I opponent this season.
• Valpo held Bradley to just 4-of-20 from 3 (20 percent), Valpo's best 3-point field-goal percentage defense since UNI went 4-of-20 on Jan. 17.
• The game featured 14 ties and eight lead changes.
• Pettigrew finished with 223 rebounds this season, the most by a freshman in program history and the 12^th-most by a freshman in Missouri Valley Conference history. His 223 rebounds were the second most of any Valpo player in the MVC era, behind Cooper Schwieger's 266 last season.
• Pettigrew finished the season with 413 points, the fourth most by a freshman in program history. He surpassed Cooper Schwieger (2023-24, 409) and Larry Dougherty (1984-85, 397) on the program's freshman scoring list on Friday, finishing behind only All Wright, Lubos Barton and Alec Peters. Four of the top five on the program's freshman scoring list were recruited to Valpo by Roger Powell.
• Valpo continued an affinity for close games, as 13 of the team's final 14 games of the season were decided by single figures. Including the MVC tournament, 20 out of 22 games against MVC opponents were decided by 10 points or fewer.

Inside the Season

• Year 3 of Roger Powell Jr.'s head coaching tenure at Valpo saw the Beacons take a major step forward. After he inherited a rebuilding project that saw the team go 3-17 in league play in Year 1, double its MVC win total to 6-14 in Year 2 and finish Year 2 with an MVC semifinal appearance, the Beacons nearly doubled their league win total again, finishing at 11-9 in Year 3.
• Valpo finished the 2025-26 season with its highest winning percentage in league play since joining The Valley prior to the 2017-2018 campaign. This marked the program's first winning season in MVC play.
• Overall, Valpo won 18 total games including 17 regular-season games in 2025-2026, the program's highest regular-season win total since its final season in the Horizon League in 2016-2017, Alec Peters' senior year.
• From Feb. 15 to Feb. 25, Valpo put together a four-game winning streak, the program's longest since a five gamer during the 2018-2019 campaign. Valpo tied its longest winning streak in league play since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, matching the 2018-2019 team, which started 4-0 in Valley play.
• Valpo finished with a winning record, the team's first since 2019-2020.
• Valpo went 6-1 in a seven-game stretch late in the regular season, the team's first stretch of six wins in seven games since joining the MVC.
• Valpo finished with a 13-4 home record this season, which marked the team's highest home win total since 2016-17.
• Valpo finished tied for sixth in the MVC and just one game out of a tie for third in a tightly-packed MVC this season. That came after being picked last in the preseason poll.

Postgame Press Conferences
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