It’s the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, better known as Arch Madness, coming to you from the Gateway City. The 10th-seeded Valparaiso Beacons are the “road” team as they take on the seventh-seeded Murray State Racers Thursday night with the winner advancing to take on second-seeded Drake in the quarterfinals. These teams met in the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon at Murray State, with the Racers earning a 77-76 overtime triumph. In the all-time series between the programs, each team has three victories with Murray State taking both meetings this season.
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Valparaiso went to the wire against Murray State only to fall a point short in overtime in the season finale on the road Sunday afternoon. The Beacons finished the regular season 11-20 overall and went just 5-15 in conference play on the year. Against Murray State, Valparaiso started hot, leading by 12 midway through the first half, only to cool off as the game went on. The Beacons found themselves down one at the half. After trailing by as many as six in the second half, Valparaiso rallied to tie the game and force overtime. In the extra session, the Beacons trailed by as many as five, tied the game with eight seconds left but gave up the winning free throw with a second remaining. The Beacons shot 47.1% from the field, including six of 23 from three-point range, and lost the game at the charity stripe. They were four of six at the line while the Racers cashed in 15 of 20 attempts. Ben Krikke led the Beacons with 24 points and five boards in the loss.
On the season, the Beacons are 230th in the nation in scoring offense with 69.5 points per game. Valparaiso pulls down an average of 33.9 rebounds per contest while they dish out 13.6 assists a night on the year. The Beacons are struggling on the defensive end of the floor, ranking 283rd in scoring defense by allowing 73.5 points a contest. Ben Krikke leads the Beacons as he averages 19.6 points plus 5.9 rebounds per game this season. Kobe King (16.4 points) and Quinton Green (10.8 points) each average in double figures on the year. Nick Edwards, Jerome Palm, Maximus Nelson, Ibra Bayu, Darius DeAveiro, Preston Ruedinger and Connor Barrett are other rotation pieces for coach Matt Lottich. Valparaiso shoots 44.3% from the floor as a team on the season. The Beacons knock down an average of 6.3 three-pointers a night while hitting a putrid 30.4% from beyond the arc. Valparaiso is above average at the charity st ripe, cashing in 72.7% of their attempts this season.
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