Visiting Indiana State remained the lone undefeated team in Missouri Valley Conference play on Sunday afternoon at the Athletics-Recreation Center, defeating the Valparaiso University men’s basketball team 68-50 on the first day of the 2023 calendar year.  

How It Happened

• After Indiana State scored the game’s first six points, Valpo went on a 6-0 run of its own to level the score.
• Freshman Maximus Nelson (Appleton, Wis. / Appleton North) canned a 3 at the 11:09 mark of the first half to cut the Indiana State lead to four at 15-11. The Beacons again shrunk the gap to four with 8:51 left in the half when Quinton Green (Columbus, Ohio / Homeschool [Cedarville]) swished one from beyond the arc.
• Valpo got the deficit all the way down to three at 25-22 after a pair of free throws by Green, but the Sycamores scored the next eight points to open up an 11-point lead with 2:27 to go in the half. Valpo went into the locker room down 36-24.
• The rough stretch that started late in the first half continued early in the second half, when the visitors scored the first 10 points to break it open at 46-24 with 16:38 on the clock.
• Valpo whittled the lead to 12 on two occasions in the final six minutes, but could get no closer.

Inside the Game

• Senior Ben Krikke (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada / Jasper Place) led Valpo with 16 points, scoring in double figures for the 13^th time in 15 games this year and notching 15+ points for the 11^th time this season.
• King tallied 13 points to finish in double figures for the 15^th straight game. He is the only Missouri Valley Conference player who has scored in double figures in each of his team’s 15 games this season.
• This marked the sixth straight game where Valpo held the opponent to under 33 percent from 3-point territory as the Sycamores shot just 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from 3. Before this current six-game stretch, Valpo opponents had shot 33 percent or better in seven straight games.
• Redshirt freshman Cam Palesse (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukesha West) saw his first game action since the Nov. 7 season opener at Toledo.
• Fifth-year senior point guard Nick Edwards (Atlanta, Ga. / Grayson [Glenville State]) dished out five assists, his fourth straight game with five or more.
• Green tied a season high set on Dec. 21 vs. Stonehill by squeezing a team-most seven rebounds.
• Nelson knocked down all three of his field goal attempts to finish with seven points.
• Valpo struggled to hit shots from beyond the arc, going 3-of-22 (13.6 percent) from long range.
• Indiana State’s Cooper Neese had 16 points to lead all scorers, while Cade McKnight posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
• This marked Valpo’s first New Year’s Day game since 2011 (at Butler) and just the program’s second Jan. 1 contest since 1945.

Up Next

Valpo (6-9, 0-4) will attempt to get back in the win column on Wednesday night as UNI comes to town for a 6 p.m. tip time at the Athletics-Recreation Center. Tickets are available by visiting ValpoAthletics.com/tickets.