Missouri Valley
MVC Milestones
(St. Louis, MO) – Several milestones were matched and celebrated Tuesday in the Valley. MVC teams went 5-2 on the night and two league coaches hit some significant numbers.
Lansing is 100
Indiana State’s Head Coach Greg Lansing pushed his win total to 100 (all with ISU) with the Sycamore’s win over Ball State. ISU has now won three straight and have evened their season record at 6-6. The next landmark for Sycamore fans is 1,000, as in points for senior Khristian Smith who after last night’s 17 points, sits at 988.
Giacoletti is 200
Drake University defeated Abilene Christian and handed Head Coach Ray Giacoletti his 200th career coaching victory, not all of them at Drake. Aiding in the victory was transfer Kale Abrahamson who reached the 30 point plateau for the second time this season. He scored 41 in an earlier game and dropped 30 on the Wildcats last Tuesday.
Balentine is 2,000
Evansville defeated Alabama A&M 91-70. In so doing the Aces joined this season’s Southern Illinois University squad with 11 non-conference regular season wins. They are the twefth and 13th MVC teams to turn that feat in the past 20 years. Prior to the game, Ford Center fans honored guard D. J. Balentine who eclipsed the 2,000 point plateau in a previous road game. Balentine scored 19 points Tuesday and is now five points behind former Evansville star Marcus Wilson for 14th on the MVC all-time scoring list. Balentine sits at 2,048.
Free Throw Record
During Tuesday’s 98-69 win over Nevada, Wichita State set a one-game free throw record. The Shockers buried 44 from the charity stripe breaking the program record of 40 set back in the 1960’s. Zach Brown made 11 of those tosses and Fred VanVleet connected 10 times.
Do Good