Detroit, Valpo Open Exhibition Season with Wins

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Oct. 26)
Detroit 93, Lawrence Tech 51 (Ex.)
Valparaiso 69, Hillsdale 60 (Ex.)

Exhibition play opened the 2013-14 men’s basketball season on Saturday night, as both Detroit and Valparaiso claimed victories. The Titans used its typical up-tempo attack to breeze past Lawrence Tech, 93-51, while the Crusaders broke in several newcomers in a 69-60 win over visiting Hillsdale College.

Detroit 93, Lawrence Tech 51 (Ex.)
Junior forward Juwan Howard, Jr. led the Titans with 28 points, including 19 in the first half, while freshman guard Jarod Williams pitched in 16 points and sophomore guard Carlton Brundidge added 12. Senior forward Evan Bruinsma also reached double figures in scoring with 11 points, while classmate Ugochukwu Njoku added eight points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Titans opened the game with a 13-3 run in the first five minutes of action, led by four points from Howard and never looked back. Howard then continued his stellar start from floor with five more points, including a three pointer to put the Titans up 28-8 with 6:43 left in the first half. Howard finished the first half with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-3 from downtown, while Bruinsma pitched in nine points and Williams added seven as Detroit took a 45-24 lead into the locker room.

Detroit opened the second half with a 17-2 run including back-to-back buckets from Brundidge and a triple from freshman Matthew Grant to give the Titans a 62-26 lead, which forced the Blue Devils to call a time out with 13:48 left. The Titans then added to their lead after a basket from senior Olumide Solanke followed by a reverse dunk by junior Patrick Onwenu off a pass from Williams to make the score 93-46 in the closing minute.

Detroit shot 56.5 percent (35-of-62) overall, including 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from downtown, while holding Lawrence Tech to just 38.6 percent (17-of-44) overall. The Titans defense also forced 25 Blue Devil turnovers and recorded 12 steals and five blocked shots, while dishing out 14 assists.

Valparaiso 69, Hillsdale 60
Having lost six seniors from last year’s Horizon League championship squad, the Crusaders leaned heavily on their seven newcomers Saturday evening. 114 of the 200 minutes played came from newcomers to the Valpo uniform, including 86 minutes from the set of five freshmen on this year’s squad.

It was a freshman who led the way for Valpo on Saturday, as Alec Peters  earned the start, played 24 minutes and scored a team-high 17 points to go with six rebounds. 13 of Peters’ 17 points came in the final 20 minutes to help the Crusaders rally from a five-point halftime deficit.

Both members of the starting backcourt also reached double figures on Saturday. Senior LaVonte Dority, the reigning Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year, poured in 15 points from his starting point guard position, while senior Jordan Coleman tallied 12 points, including an 8-of-10 effort from the foul line, and added five rebounds.

The Crusaders’ defensive effort was key, as Valpo held Hillsdale to just 30.4% (21-of-69) shooting from the floor, including a 24% (6-of-25) clip from beyond the 3-point line. A large part of it was strong interior play from Valpo, as it tallied 11 total team blocks, a mark which would have tied the program single-game record were it a regular season game. Junior Vashil Fernandez rejected six shots, while five Crusaders in all had at least one blocked shot.

It was slow going in the first half for the Crusaders as they attempted to integrate the large group of newcomers with the four returnees. Valpo led by four points just under five minutes in at 11-7 following a fast-break three-point play from Coleman, but Hillsdale scored the next seven points and would lead the remainder of the half. The Chargers earned their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 34-27 with under a minute to play, but freshman Clay Yeo knocked down a pair of free throws to bring Valpo within five at the break.

The deficit was still four points three minutes into the second half before Valpo put together an 11-0 run to claim the lead for good. Dority started the run with a circus driving layup and added another fast-break layup later in the spurt, while Fernandez threw down a two-handed slam. Yeo and freshman Lexus Williams both added fast-break baskets of their own, the latter capping the run and giving the Crusaders a 46-39 lead with 12:41 to play.

Hillsdale had crept back within four points at 48-44 before Peters hit a triple with 9:41 to play to push the lead back to seven. The freshman then knocked down another 3-pointer less than two minutes later to make it 57-46 Crusaders. The Chargers got back to within six points with 2:41 remaining, but Fernandez corralled an offensive rebound, went back up and dunked it on Valpo’s next offensive trip, and Hillsdale would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Freshman Jubril Adekoya led the Crusader effort on the glass with eight rebounds. Yeo paced Valpo with three assists and joined Coleman with two steals apiece.

Kyle Cooper led Hillsdale with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Tim Dezelski contributed 16 points and nine boards in the losing effort.

Horizon League teams will resume exhibition play on Tuesday night, when Oakland hosts Tiffin at 7 p.m. ET.