Wednesdays in the Valley

Three Game Recap & Three Game Review

(St. Louis, MO) – In today’s edition of ‘Wednesdays in the Valley, we’ll talk about games and we will talk about history being made! We’ll take a quick look at what happened last night in the league and what’s on tap for tonight.

There were three Valley contests last night and the most anticipated was the one at Northern Iowa where two of the league’s six, 4-2 teams squared off. The home team Panthers defeated Murray State 75-67 and Ben Jacobson’s team is firing on all cylinders right now. UNI (9-8, 5-2) has won four straight.

The league’s leading scorer, Bowen Born led the Panthers with 23 points and three other Panthers reached double figures. Tytan Anderson recorded his league-leading eighth double-double, scoring eleven points and the Valley’s top rebounder added eighteen to his season total. Those 18 rebounds set a new UNI, in conference record.

Rob Perry scored 22 in defeat. The Racers fell to 9-8 and 4 and three in conference play. Murray State led by nine points with less than eight minutes left, but a field goal drought of over six minutes allowed the Panthers to gain control of the contest.

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Belmont kept pace with UNI, earning a road win at Valparaiso. Freshman guard Ja’Cobi Gillespie came off the bench to lead the Bruins to a 74-59 road win. Gillespie scored 15 points and added six assists. Belmont (12-6, 5-2) has won three straight games. Valpo (6-12, 0-7) has lost seven straight games. The Beacons’ “K-Squared Offense” of Kobe King and Ben Krikke was good again last night. King scored 17 points while Krikke added 15 and eight rebounds. King’s total pushed him over the 1,000 point mark during his career.

Overtime in Chicago

During the wildest game of the night, preseason favorite Drake had to come from behind to win an overtime contest at Illinois Chicago. Drake trailed by five at the half, but held a five point lead with under two minutes to play, but the Flames forced overtime by allowing the Bulldogs just one free throw during the game’s closing minutes.

Tre Anderson forced the OT with the game tying bucket with nine seconds left. Then Drake’s Tucker DeVries took over, scoring seven of his 15 points in the extra session. Drake won it 76-71.

Four Bulldogs (13-5, 4-3) scored in double figures, including Garrett Sturtz who recorded a twelve point/ten rebound double-double. Sturtz moved into second place on the Bulldog all-time rebounding list with 821. The double-double was his fourth of the season.

UIC (9-9, 1-6) lost for the fourth straight time and they also had four double digit scorers led by Toby Okani’s 18 points.

What’s on Tap

As the conference race continues to heat up, three games are available on ESPN+.

Southern Illinois (12-5, 4-2) @ Indiana State (13-4, 6-0) – 6 pm

There is a lot at stake in this one. On the line is Indiana State’s undefeated record and their climb in the NET. Southern hopes to chip away at the Sycamores’ lead. This is a Quad 2 game for the Salukis and features a matchup of the league’s best offense against the Valley’s second best defense.

The emergence of guard Julian Larry makes ISU extremely difficult to defend, and Player of the Year Candidate Marcus Domask looks to rebound from an uncharacteristic ‘off night’. Larry is averaging 17 points per game over his past four contests and is making over 80% of his shots.

Missouri State (8-8, 4-2) @ Illinois State (7-10, 2-4) – 7 pm

The Bears look to bounce back from a loss, while Illinois State is hoping to build momentum from their weekend victory. Both teams are still looking for the right lineup after offseason roster shakeups.

Both squads are struggling to score but attack the offensive glass and are two of the Valley’s best rebounding teams. Missouri State’s Donovan Clay does a little of everything for Dana Ford. The Alton, Illinois native is the team’s second leading scorer, leading rebounder, assist man and is a lock down defender.

Evansville (4-13, 0-6) @ Bradley (11-6, 4-2) – 7 pm

Evansville is searching for that elusive first conference win and the Braves have won seven of their last ten games and are a perfect 9-0 at home.

Coach Brian Wardle told me Monday that his team is not nearly as good as they should be by the end of the season. That is a scary proposition for the team with the best MVC frontcourt and emerging backcourt contributors in Zek Montgomery, Connor Hickman and Duke Deen.

Kenny Strawbridge and Marvin Coleman are having solid seasons for Evansville’s first year coach David Ragland.

Don’t forget ‘Courtside Chat’ with Mike Kern and other Valley media members tomorrow!

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