The Valparaiso University men's basketball team finished out a perfect 2-0 week of exhibition action as part of the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League in Nassau, The Bahamas, beating Dalhousie 90-70 on Tuesday evening. Sophomore JT Pettigrew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) paced the team with 23 points and eight rebounds, leading four Beacons in double figures.
 
How It Happened

• Dalhousie led 6-5 early, but the Beacons bolted ahead with a 9-0 run that culminated on a 3-pointer by Pettigrew to make it 14-6.
• Freshman Rajan Roberts (Chicago, Ill. / AZ Compass Prep) hit a 3 with 12:34 left in the first half to give Valpo its first double-figure lead at 20-9. Carter Hopoi (Tauranga, New Zealand) had a dunk at the 11:53 mark of the first half that made it 22-12.
• Valpo extended the lead to 16 when Justus McNair (Joliet, Ill. / Joliet West) drained a 3 to make it 33-17 with 7:38 left in the first half.
• The Beacons ran off 12 straight points leading in the half including back-to-back 3s by Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Robert Auburn [212 Sports Academy]), pushing what was already a 17-point bulge to 29 at 56-27 with 45 seconds left in the first half. The Beacons went into the locker room ahead 56-29.
• Hopoi's traditional 3-point play early in the second half lifted the gap to 30.
• Hopoi and Pettigrew had dunks on consecutive possessions, with Pettigrew swiping a steal that started his runout slam.
• Roberts added another dunk at the 15:01 mark to extend the lead to 36, which stood as the largest of the contest.
• Sophomore Terron Garrett (St. Louis, Mo. / Vashon [Mineral Area College]) connected on a 3 to put the lead back at 30 at 79-49 with 7:53 left in the second half.
• Walk-on Camden Webster (Wheatfield, Ind. / Kankakee Valley [Bosco Institute]) got on the stat sheet with a driving layup, then fellow walk-on Nick Lombardi (Lisle, Ill. / Montini Catholic) went 2-for-2 at the foul line to close the Valpo scoring.  

Inside the Game

• Valpo improved to 13-1 all-time in preseason Foreign Tour games, including 2-0 this week at Baha Mar.
• Pettigrew poured in 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting while going 6-for-6 at the free-throw line, squeezing eight rebounds and adding three assists.
• Chaney finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting including 3-of-5 from 3.
• Roberts tallied 13 points and went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.
• Hopoi was the fourth Beacon in double figures with 11 points on 5-of-8 from the field to go along with six rebounds. McNair had nine points and Kai Yu (Zhuhai, Guangdong, China / Link Prep [Bradley/Liberty]) added seven.
• The Beacons played 14, 11 of whom scored.
• After scuffling at the free-throw line on Monday, the Beacons had a strong showing at the stripe on Tuesday, going 21-of-26 (80.8 percent). Valpo shot 54.1 percent from the field in the first half before cooling off to 28.6 percent after halftime.
• Chaney (+31) and Pettigrew (+30) led the way in the plus-minus column.
• Garrett grabbed five rebounds, joining Pettigrew (eight) and Hopoi (six) with five or more. The Beacons secured 18 offensive boards in the game, led by four from Yu.
• Valpo held a 21-6 edge in the turnover category.
• The Beacons dished out 14 assists against just six turnovers, with three Beacons distributing three helpers apiece.

Up Next
Valpo will play additional exhibition games back in the States closer to the start of the season. The regular season will open on the first day of the NCAA Division-I basketball season across the country – Monday, Nov. 2 – with Valpo slated to play a home game that evening at the ARC. The full nonconference and conference schedules will be announced once they have been finalized.