The Valparaiso men’s basketball team bounced back quickly from Friday’s heartbreaking triple-overtime loss, coming out 24 hours later and leading nearly start to finish in Saturday’s 94-58 victory over Cincinnati Christian at the ARC.
It was a total team effort by the Crusaders on Saturday, as of the 10 players that saw the court, all 10 played at least 12 minutes and nine of the 10 scored at least seven points. Leading the way was redshirt junior David Chadwick (Charlotte, N.C./Hargrave Military Academy [Rice]), who appeared for the first time since the Ohio game and scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 17 minutes off the bench.
Chadwick was one of six Valpo players to close the night in double figures. Freshman Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) was perfect on five field goal attempts, scoring 13 points in just 16 minutes. Fellow rookie Lexus Williams (Chicago, Ill./Marist) finished in double figures for the fourth straight game, scoring 11 points while also pulling down a career-high eight rebounds.
Freshman Clay Yeo (Bourbon, Ind./Triton) hit a trio of 3-pointers en route to 11 points and also handed out five assists without a turnover in 30 minutes of play, while junior Vashil Fernandez (Kingston, Jamaica/Princeton Day [Md.] Academy) registered his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. Fifth-year senior Moussa Gueye (Thies, Senegal/SEED Academy [Alabama/Lake Land (Ill.) College]) rounded out the group in double figures, scoring 10 points in 15 minutes of action.
Fifth-year senior Bobby Capobianco (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland [Indiana]) needed just 12 minutes to score eight points and register four assists, while freshman Jubril Adekoya (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) totaled seven points and a career-best eight rebounds. Freshman Nick Davidson (Merrillville, Ind./Andrean) played 16 minutes and registered seven points and five assists.
The Crusader offense was highly efficient yet again on Saturday, hitting at a 64.6% (31-of-48) clip from the floor, including 8-of-16 from beyond the 3-point line. Valpo also got to the foul line 33 times, connecting on 24 free throws (72.7%). The Crusaders ended the night with a season-best 25 assists on their 31 made field goals.
Mike Hill led Cincinnati Christian, an NAIA school which was playing the game as an exhibition contest, with 19 points and eight rebounds. Mitch McLeish added 16 points for the Eagles. Valpo limited CCU to just 32.8% shooting and out-rebounded the Eagles, 46-22.
Valparaiso (5-4) hits the road for its only road game in the span of a month next Wednesday as the Crusaders head to Muncie to take on in-state foe Ball State. As always, the game can be heard live on the Valpo Sports Radio Network, with links for live audio and stats available at ValpoAthletics.com.
