Amazing Missouri Valley Wednesday

Teams Go 4-1

(West Africa) – Tight ballgames highlighted an amazing Missouri Valley Wednesday. League members won four of five games and none of the games were decided by more than six points. As is always the case there were memorable turning points and players that rose to the occasion. In all four occasions the Valley squads were helped by their enthusiastic home fans.

Amazing Missouri Valley Wednesday – Iowa Version

Drake and Northern Iowa played before home crowds against Atlantic Ten teams and each team had to come from behind to prevail.

The Bulldogs trailed Saint Louis by 19 points early in the game’s second half and by 16 with 16:45 to play and then the Drake defense and transition offense took over. The Bulldogs outscored the Billikens 43 to 21 and won their fifth straight game 75-69.

Even on an off offensive night for Tucker DeVries, the Valley’s reigning ‘Player of the Year’ recorded a double-double (10 points & 10 rebounds. His triple with 1:05 left was a back-breaker for Saint Louis.

While the Bulldogs were pulling off a dramatic comeback, Northern Iowa was climbing a hill of its own. UNI’s second half woes have been astronomical and Wednesday Ben Jacobson’s team was able to exercise some of those demons. The A-Ten’s Richmond Spiders led by two points at half time, but the Panthers played a very solid second half to prevail 78-73.

In five of UNI’s six losses the Panthers have allowed an average of 47.2 points per second half. Two times they allowed over fifty. Wednesday they held the Spiders to 32 second half points.

Trey Campbell’s career high 21-point night sparked a total team offensive effort. While all eleven Panthers that played also scored, Bowen Born (17) and Nate Heise (13) also stood out.

The win was the 338^th victory in Jacobson’s career moving him into sole possession of second place on the Valley’s all-time wins list. Henry Iba collected 486.

Amazing Missouri Valley Wednesday – Normal and Nashville

Illinois State earned its third straight win by a narrow, three-point margin. The Redbirds (6-3) used a 12-0 scoring run to turn a seven-point second half deficit into a five-point lead and held on to defeat Northern Kentucky 62-59.

Kendall Lewis (15), Dalton Banks (14) and Darius Burford (13) led the offensive charge and Myles Foster grabbed nine rebounds as the Birds dominated the CEFCU Arena glass (41-31).

The ‘Battle of the Boulevard’ rivalry game between Belmont and Lipscomb was a thriller. The Bruins outscored the Bisons by 18 points in the first half only to see Lipscomb outperform them by 17 in the second stanza.

Lipscomb’s furious come back put them in the lead at 71-69 with 17-seconds left. A typically brilliant Belmont out-of-bounds play resulted in a lay-up and an old fashioned, three-point-play for Ja’Kobi Gillespie at the six second mark, and the Belmont fans went crazy.

Malik Dia led the Bruins with 15 points. Gillespie and fellow sophomore Cade Tyson each scored 14.

The amazing Missouri Valley Wednesday had one blemish. Valparaiso lost a road game at Central Michigan, but even that contest was close. The Beacons fell to 4-5 losing to the Chippewas 71-67. Isaiah Stafford scored 23 points in the loss.

Valley teams have claimed a 52 and 24 non-conference record.

Do Good

Editor: Cover photo of Trey Campbell is courtesy of unipanthers.com.