Wednesdays in the Valley

Belmont Beats a Rival and SIU Stays Hot

(St. Louis, MO) – Belmont stays hot and defeats their top rival – Valpo wins its second straight game and the hottest team in the Valley continues to sizzle. Those are the top stories in this week’s Wednesdays in the Valley.

In the ever swirling standings of the Missouri Valley Conference we began this week’s games with three teams tied for first place with 6-2 league marks and FIVE teams, just one game back at five and three.

One of those first place teams, Belmont was hosting its former Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State and the Bruins turned a slight, four point lead at the half into a 15 point victory (80-65). Five Bruins (14-6, 7-2) reached double figures in scoring, led by Player of the Year candidate Ben Sheppard. The senior guard scored 23 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists. Belmont has won five straight games.

Casey Alexander’s squad handed out twenty assists and buried 12 three-pointers.

Murray State struggled to score, making just 29 percent of its three-point attempts and 37 percent overall. The Racers are now 10-and 9 and fell to 5-4 in Valley play.

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After losing their first seven MVC contests, the Beacons of Valparaiso won their second straight game. Valpo defeated UIC 76-56. The “K-Squared Offense” of Ben Krikke and Kobe King was on full display last night. King scored 24 points without making a three-pointer. Krikke added 16 and five assists.

Flames guard Toby Okani scored 29 points, grabbed eleven rebounds and continues to make a bid for the Valley’s newcomer of the year award. UIC has lost six straight and are one and eight. In the last two games the Beacons (8-12, 2-7) have moved from tied for eleventh and twelfth into sole possession of tenth place.

SIU Stays Hot

But the hottest team in the Valley is Southern Illinois. The Salukis held serve with a home win over Evansville. SIU has won three straight games and ten of its last eleven. Despite allowing 70 points, ten over their season average, Bryan Mullins’ team prevailed 78 to 70.

UE’s Marvin Coleman scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but SIU’s Marcus Domask scored a career-high tying 32 points to spark the Salukis to the victory. Domask is in the hunt for that player of the year award too. He added five rebounds and four assists. SIU is now 15-5 and tied with Belmont at 7-2 for the Valley’s top spot.

Evansville remains winless (0-9) in league play and have lost eight straight games.

Tonight’s Three Games

Bradley (12-7, 5-3) @ Indiana State (13-6, 6-2) – 6 pm – ESPN+

Indiana State was and may still be the Valley’s surprise team, but the Sycamores have lost two straight and suddenly look vulnerable. Josh Schertz’s team is the league’s highest scoring team averaging around 80 points per game, but during this short losing streak they’ve scored 61 and 62 points. He told me Monday that his team has hit a cold spell and the Valley teams play great defense.

Bradley hangs its hat on defense and is second to SIU in points allowed, but the Braves have been a win one, lose one stretch right now. Stealing a road win would be huge for Brian Wardle’s team. He told me this week that you become a good defensive team by demanding it in practice and we heard the Braves had a war-like practice earlier this week.

Tonight’s game will be Bradley’s size, toughness and defense against Indiana State’s offensive system and a growing fan base in Terre Haute.

Illinois State (8-11, 3-5) @ Northern Iowa (9-9, 5-3) – 7 pm ESPN+

Both of these teams had winning streaks snapped this weekend. UNI is only 6-4 at home, but they are typically very difficult to beat at the McLeod Center. Ben Jacobson’s young team is growing up in front of us. While Valley scoring leader Bowen Born and Valley rebounding leader Tytan Anderson are the only known commodities from last year’s team, three freshmen and two hold-over post players are proving they belong.

First year Illinois State coach Ryan Pedon hopes he learned how to handle the Panthers. His Redbirds lost at home to UNI earlier this year. Kendall Lewis has been the team’s leading scorer and rebounder most of the season, but has hit a bit of a scoring slump. Look for Liam McChesney to step up in this one.

Missouri State (9-9, 5-3) @ Drake (14-5, 5-3) – 7 pm – MVCTV & ESPN+

After a slow conference start, Drake has won three straight and they haven’t lost at home since late last season. Preseason Player of the Year Tucker DeVries broke out of his slump in a big way with 28 points last Saturday. How the Bulldogs handle Missouri State’s size, athleticism and versatility will be a key to watch.

The Bears will switch one through four or even five and you never know who is leaping off Dana Ford’s bench to contribute. Every Missouri State player has started at least one game and Bryan Trimble who had not seen any playing time in weeks emerged as an offensive hero this weekend. It looks like senior Donovan Clay has found his niche in the offense too. Six of his eight double digit scoring performances have come in the last six games.

Art Hains Update

Remember our podcast with the Valley’s Mike Kern and other Valley media members, COURTSIDE CHAT comes your way tomorrow.

The most important news of this week’s Wednesdays in the Valley is that we’ve heard encouraging news from several sources about Art Hains’ recent physical progress, so remember him in your prayers.

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