Contrary to what his last name would indicate, Valparaiso University men’s basketball senior Quinton Green’s (Columbus, Ohio / Homeschool [Cedarville]) new favorite color may be red after what transpired in games against Illinois State this season.

Green poured in a game-high 25 points – one point shy of his season high set against the Redbirds on Jan. 21 – to lift the Beacons to an 81-76 win over the guests from Bloomington-Normal on Saturday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center. His top two scoring outputs in a Valpo uniform have come against the Redbirds.

How It Happened

• Illinois State made a 3 to start the scoring, but Valpo scored the next eight points including an early triple by Kobe King (La Crosse, Wis. / La Crosse Central [Wisconsin]). The Beacons held on to that lead until a 3-pointer at the 14:13 mark created a 12-12 deadlock.
• Green responded with a pair of 3-point bombs of his own, building the lead back to six.
• Valpo led by five with 12:10 on the first-half clock, but Illinois State scored the next nine points to take a 24-20 lead thanks to a run that was capped by a Darius Burford dunk at the 9:53 mark, prompting a Matt Lottich timeout.
• The Redbirds led by five with 8:03 left in the first half, but it was Valpo’s turn for a 9-0 run including a go-ahead 3 by Green.
• King added a trey at the 2:57 mark, and a dunk by Ibra Bayu (Flevoland, The Netherlands) a moment later helped Valpo maintain a four-point edge at 42-38 as the game reached halftime.
• Valpo stretched the cushion to double figures by the 16:34 mark of the second half, and the lead fluctuated between six and 10 for most of the half.
• The Beacons led by 10 with 6:37 to go and the lead was eight at 79-71 with just 26 seconds remaining. The Redbirds had a quick burst of five points including a steal and a flurry of offensive rebounds, suddenly trimming the gap to three with four seconds to go at 79-76.
• King stepped up and hit two huge free throws with four seconds on the clock to put the game on ice.

Inside the Game

• Green has scored 51 points in two games against the Redbirds on 10-of-15 from 3-point territory and 17-of-23 shooting. He is 7-of-8 at the foul line against Illinois State.
• Green also got the job done on the glass on Saturday, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. This outdid his previous season best of seven and tied his career high, which came on Dec. 18, 2018 while playing for Cedarville in a game against Florida Southern.
• Green achieved his first double-double in a Valpo uniform and became the fourth Beacon to record one this season, joining King, Ben Krikke (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada / Jasper Place) and Nick Edwards (Atlanta, Ga. / Grayson [Glenville State]).  
• Krikke scored 24 points of his own to combine with Green for 49 points. Krikke also had six rebounds and six assists while going 9-of-14 from the field and 6-of-7 at the foul line.
• Krikke continued to climb Valpo’s all-time scoring list, finishing the night with 1,483 career points. Of all nights – on the night that David Redmon’s family members were in attendance following the Valpo legend’s funeral on Saturday afternoon in Valpo – Krikke passed Redmon for 11^th in program history. Redmon, who was remembered with a video tribute at halftime that featured messages from former teammates Casey Schmidt and Rob Cavanaugh as well as former Valpo head coach Homer Drew, recently passed away at the age of 50.
• Krikke surpassed 500 points for the season on Saturday, becoming the second Valpo player during the Missouri Valley Conference Era with a 500-point season, joining Javon Freeman-Liberty.
• Krikke also surpassed 200 made field goals for the season, becoming just the eighth different Valpo player to achieve that feat in the last 30 years. He has good company – Javon Freeman-Liberty, Alec Peters (twice), Brandon Wood, Dan Oppland (twice), Bryce Drew, Anthony Allison and Tracy Gipson.
• Krikke has scored in double figures in 25 of 27 games this season including 15 straight games and all 16 league contests. This was his 10^th game with 20 points or more.
• King scored an efficient 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting, his highest single-game field goal percentage of the season. He has scored in double figures in all 27 games this year.
• The Beacons shot 54.9 percent from the field, their second-highest rate of the season behind only the 57.4 percent in the first game against Illinois State. The hosts shot at a sizzling 61.5 percent clip in the opening half including 5-of-10 from long range.
• This was a big win for Arch Madness seeding, as the victory allowed Valpo to move into a tie with Illinois State for ninth in the league standings. Valpo holds the tiebreaker based on winning both head-to-head matchups.
• Valpo has won 10 of the last 11 head-to-head meetings with Illinois State and is 10-2 against the Redbirds since joining The Valley. The Brown & Gold have prevailed in the last five matchups that have occurred within the confines of the Athletics-Recreation Center.
• Speaking of success at the ARC, the victory on Saturday allowed Valpo to clinch a winning record at home. This is the 31^st consecutive season that the program has boasted a home record of .500 or better.

Postgame Comments

Click here for postgame press conference.

Up Next

Valpo (11-16, 5-11 MVC) will welcome Southern Illinois on Tuesday at 6 p.m. There will be a buy one get one free (BOGO) ticket special for the upper mezzanine. For ticket information, visit valpoathletics.com/tickets.