Valpo's Offense, Butler's Defense Shine in Road Wins

Horizon League Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 19)
Valparaiso 69, Loyola 48
Butler 57, UIC 49

Road teams locked down on Thursday,as both Valparaiso and Butler kept pace near the top of the Horizon League ladder with wins over Loyola and UIC, respectively.

Valparaiso 69, Loyola 48
Shooting better than 50 percent from the floor, Valparaiso cruised to a 69-48 win over Loyola at Gentile Arena.

Valparaiso (13-7, 6-2 Horizon) entered the night as the second-best shooting team in the country from inside the three-point line and helped itself on Thursday, going 21-for-32 from inside the arc, with Kevin Van Wijk leading the charge.

The junior knocked down his first six field goal attempts, closing the night 6-of-7 for 14 points. Fellow junior Ryan Broekhoff chipped in 13 points while also pulling down a team-high eight rebounds.

After surrendering the game’s first basket, Valpo scored the next eight points to take the lead for good. Broekhoff got it going with a fast-break layup off a feed from Erik Buggs, and Ben Boggs followed with a triple and then an old-fashioned 3-point play to quickly make it 8-2 Crusaders just 2:44 into the game.

Loyola would cut the Crusader lead to two points on a pair of occasions, the second coming at 10-8 with 14:34 to play in the half, but a three-point barrage gave Valpo breathing room it wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the contest.  Jay Harris set up Broekhoff and Boggs for triples on back-to-back possessions, helping the sophomore finishing with five assists on the night. On the next trip, Harris stepped up and knocked down a three-pointer of his own, pushing the advantage to 19-10 less than eight minutes into the contest.

Leading by 10, Broekhoff would add to the highlights, following his own three-point miss and making a circus layup to continue the Crusaders’ spurt. Valpo would cap the 8-0 run with another layup from Van Wijk off a pass from Harris, going up 31-17 with 3:19 to go in the opening stanza. Then, holding the ball for the last shot of the half, the Crusaders perfectly executed a set play, culminating in a Harris triple to make it a 38-22 lead at the break.

Harris enjoyed his return to the Chicagoland area, leading the Crusaders with 18 points off the bench and adding five assists. Boggs ended the night with a career-best 14 points, 11 of which came in the first half, as he knocked down all three of his three-point attempts en route to a 5-of-6 shooting performance.

Jordan Hicks had his best game of the year for Loyola (5-13, 0-8 Horizon), leading the Ramblers with 13 points. Christian Thomas added 11 points off the bench.

Butler 57, UIC 49
Behind Roosevelt Jones' career-high 16 points and a stifling defense, Butler overcame its own sluggish shooting to knock off UIC, 57-49, at the UIC Pavilion.

Using his strength, Jones was able to get to the rim throughout the night, going 6-of-13 from the field and hitting 4-of-5 free throws. Jones' final points of the night were perhaps the biggest for Butler (11-9, 5-3 Horizon), as his driving layup and subsequent free throw to convert a three-point play put the Bulldogs ahead, 47-40, with just 1:44 to play.

The bucket snapped a spell in which the Bulldogs had just one field in a nearly eight-minute stretch of the second half. However, the Bulldogs' defense limited UIC (6-13, 2-6 Horizon) throughout the night - the Flames shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and endured a 2-for-13 effort from the three-point arc. Over the final 25 minutes of play, UIC did not hit a three.

After a Paris Carter layup gave the Flames their largest lead of the night at 23-18, Butler closed the first half on a 10-2 run, with Jones and Kameron Woods combining for eight of the 10 points. Jones sandwiched a layup and traditional three-point play around a Woods' triple, sending Butler into the locker room with a 28-25 advantage.

UIC could climb no closer than four points on several occasions in the second half, but Butler was able to close the game out at the free-throw line, going 8-for-11 in the last 1:10 to thwart any comeback attempt.

Hitting 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch, Ronald Nored joined Jones in double figures with 10 points; Khyle Marshall corralled 10 rebounds, helping Butler to a 39-33 edge on the glass.

Gary Talton and Marc Brown each had 11 points for the Flames, while Daniel Barnes finished with 10.