Men's Basketball Final Shot: Feb. 1 - A Measure of Separation

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 1)
Valparaiso 71, Milwaukee 40
Detroit 88, Youngstown State 77

January ended with the Horizon League men’s basketball standings tightly contested; on the first day of February, the standings gained a little bit of space at the top after wins by Valparaiso and Detroit.

Valparaiso 71, Milwaukee 40
With its best defensive effort against a Division I school in nearly 30 years, Valparaiso rolled past Milwaukee, 71-40, at the ARC, in the process earning its largest Horizon League win since joining the league.

Valparaiso (17-6, 7-2 Horizon) surrendered just 40 points, its fewest against a Division I opponent since the Crusaders gave up just 33 points in a win over Green Bay on Jan. 21, 1984. Its most recent defensive effort of this magnitude came against Grinnell on Dec. 9, 1987, a 68-40 Valpo victory. Meanwhile, the 31-point margin of victory was the Crusaders’ largest within league play since they were a Mid-Con member and defeated Oakland 95-64 on Jan. 2, 2006.

It was a tight game early on, with Ben Boggs providing the early offense, scoring 10 points in the opening six minutes as the Crusaders maintained a narrow lead. Boggs started in the place of Matt Kenney, posting a season-high 12 points in the first half.

A pair of Milwaukee free throws cut the Valpo edge to 12-10 with 12:12 to play in the first half, but the Crusaders went on a 10-1 spurt over the next four minutes, featuring 3-pointers by Will Bogan and LaVonte Dority, along with an old-fashioned three-point play from Ryan Broekhoff, to claim a double-digit lead 11:35 into the game.

The lead was seven at 25-18 as the clock ticked under the six-minute mark of the first half, but the Crusaders closed the half on a 12-3 run to go into the locker room ahead 37-21.  A triple from Broekhoff started the half-ending run, while Erik Buggs also hit a three-pointer during the spurt. Boggs and Dority each added fast-break layups, and a tip-in by Bobby Capobianco in the final seconds capped the run, giving the Crusaders the 16-point edge into the break.

Valpo left no doubt as to the outcome out of halftime, scoring the first 11 points of the second half to push its lead to 27. Kevin Van Wijk scored five points during the run, including a circus layup which he released while he was nearly horizontal to the floor. Buggs added a steal and fast-break dunk, while Broekhoff capped the run with another 3-pointer.  The lead never fell below 25 points the rest of the way, reaching 36 twice, once with 6:17 remaining on Bogan’s fourth 3-pointer of the game and then with 5:21 to play on a two-handed dunk by Vashil Fernandez.

The offensive effort was balanced for the Crusaders on Friday, as all eight Valpo players who scored tallied at least five points. Bogan and Boggs tied for team-high honors with 12 points, while Broekhoff added 11. Dority scored nine, Capobianco eight and Fernandez six off the bench, while Van Wijk tallied five in just 13 minutes of action. Capobianco also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, while Broekhoff added seven caroms.

Dority paced the Crusaders with five assists, one of seven players to record multiple assists as Valpo totaled 19 helpers on 27 made field goals. The Crusaders shot 56.3% (27-of-48) from the floor and 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from behind the 3-point line, the fourth time this year Valpo has shot better than 50 percent  from downtown.

Jordan Aaron led Milwaukee (5-18, 1-8 Horizon) with 17 points, but was the only Panther to score more than six points on the evening as they shot just 27.3 percent (12-of-44) from the field.  Aaron also tallied a game-high four steals.

Valparaiso returns to action on Tuesday evening from the ARC as the Crusaders host UIC at 8:05 p.m. Milwaukee will return to the Klotsche Center for three straight games, beginning with a Thursday night contest against Detroit at 8 p.m. EST.

Detroit 88, Youngstown State 77
With both teams ranking in the top 40 of the country in adjusted tempo, Detroit and Youngstown State provided the pregame promise of offensive fireworks. Both teams delivered before a national television audience on ESPNU, with the host Titans holding the Penguins at bay, 88-77, on Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall.

Detroit (15-8, 7-3 Horizon) kept pace with Valparaiso in the Horizon League standings, remaining within a half-game of the top spot in the conference standings. Youngstown State (13-9, 5-4 Horizon), meanwhile, slipped into a four-way tie for third place.

The Titans played the second half like a schoolyard bully, seemingly holding their arm out to the Penguins and keeping them at bay despite YSU’s best efforts to rally.

Two Damian Eargle jumpers early in the second half would draw Youngstown State even with Detroit, with the latter hook evening the score at 44 with 18:12 to play. However, a quick 7-0 burst from the Titans would open a lead the squad would not relinquish.

Nick Minnerath featured in the run, with his layup pushing the lead to four, 48-44. Minnerath continued to shine on ESPNU, finishing with a game-high 27 points; the senior had 34 in his last appearance on ESPNU on Jan. 16.

Youngstown State, however, would not go quietly, as the Penguins maintained the deficit at no more than seven points throughout the half. A Ray McCallum free throw with 7:49 left would stake Detroit to its largest lead of the game at 67-59, before a Kamren Belin three-pointer would once again draw YSU within two possessions.

Belin’s career-best fifth three would come with 4:24 remaining, closing Youngstown State’s deficit to 70-65; however, free throws from Jason Calliste and a layup by McCallum would stretch Detroit’s lead to 74-65. The Titans would not be threatened the remainder of the game.

McCallum added 23 and Calliste pitched in 16. Doug Anderson also scored in double figures with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Perry eclipsed 20 points for the second straight game, leading Youngstown State with 22 points; Damian Eargle tallied a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, asserting himself defensively with seven blocks.

Belin finished with 19 points, knocking down a career-best six three-pointers.

Detroit will be back in action on Feb. 9, traveling to Milwaukee for an 8 p.m. EST tip, while Youngsotwn State will travel to Northeast Ohio rival Cleveland State on Feb. 5.