CRUSADER GAME NOTES Valparaiso at Cleveland State Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 6 p.m. CST Men’s Basketball Contact: Aaron Leavitt [email protected] 219.464.6953 (phone) * 219.464.5762 (fax) 1009 Union Street * Valparaiso, IN * 46383 www.valpoathletics.com The Matchup: Valparaiso (13-13, 8-6 Horizon) continues a 2009-2010 CRUSADER SCHEDULE stretch of five Horizon League games in a ten-day span on Thurs- DATE OPPONENT TIME RESULT day evening, hitting the road to take on Cleveland State (12-12, 8- Nov. 1 Indianapolis ! 4 p.m. L 88-83 4 Horizon). The Crusaders and the Vikings enter the game as Nov. 13 at Ball State 6 p.m. L 88-78 two of the league’s hottest squads, as Valpo has won seven of its Nov. 15 at #6/4 North Carolina 3 p.m. L 88-77 Nov. 19 IU-South Bend 7:05 p.m. W 78-56 last nine and CSU has won five in a row and eight of its last ten. Nov. 22 at #2/2 Michigan State # 11 a.m. L 90-60 Nov. 27 at Georgia Southern # 6:30 p.m. W 97-89 Last Time Out: A relatively low-scoring tied game at halftime Nov. 28 vs. Troy # 2 p.m. L 80-64 turned into a shootout in the second half Monday evening at the Nov. 29 vs. Arkansas-Fort Smith # noon W 86-74 ARC, with Valparaiso taking the lead for good with 13 minutes Dec. 5 at #23/20 Butler * 6 p.m. L 84-67 to go en route to an 83-82 victory over UIC in Horizon League Dec. 9 at #5/5 Purdue 6 p.m. L 86-62 Dec. 12 Toledo 2 p.m. W 81-49 action. Ryan Broekhoff and Brandon Wood tied for team-high Dec. 19 Concordia (Wis.) 7:05 p.m. W 83-57 honors Monday with 18 points, while the former also pulled down Dec. 22 at IPFW 6 p.m. L 75-72 nine rebounds. Brandon McPherson added 15 points, five re- Dec. 27 at Akron 1 p.m. L 77-57 bounds and five assists, while Cory Johnson chipped in 11 points Dec. 31 Milwaukee * 7:05 p.m. W 55-54 before fouling out. Valpo shot at a 55.6% (30-of-54) clip for the Jan. 2 Green Bay * 7:05 p.m. L 64-58 game, including 40% (10-of-25) from behind the arc, but also Jan. 8 at Detroit * 6 p.m. L 77-67 committed 18 turnovers on the night. Jan. 10 at Wright State * 3 p.m. L 59-57 Jan. 14 Youngstown State * 7:05 p.m. W 70-66 Jan. 16 Cleveland State * 1 p.m. W 78-71 Series History: Cleveland State holds a 26-8 advantage in the all- Jan. 21 at UIC * 7 p.m. W 64-58 time series over the Crusaders, including a 5-1 mark since Valpo Jan. 23 at Loyola * 3 p.m. W 86-67 joined the Horizon League, but the Crusaders earned the victory Jan. 29 at Milwaukee * 7 p.m. L 85-82 in the two teams’ last meeting, a 78-71 win at the ARC on Jan. 16. Jan. 31 at Green Bay * 1 p.m. W 84-79 Four Crusaders finished the game in double figures in the scor- Feb. 4 Wright State * 7:05 p.m. L 75-71 Feb. 6 Detroit * 1 p.m. W 74-70 ing column, led by Brandon McPherson, who hit 8-of-11 from Feb. 8 UIC * 7:05 p.m. W 83-82 the floor for a game-high 22 points while also scoring his 1,000th Feb. 11 at Cleveland State * 6 p.m. career point during the game. Brandon Wood added 17 points, Feb. 13 at Youngstown State * 6:05 p.m. while Cory Johnson finished with 15 points. Ryan Broekhoff Feb. 17 Loyola * 7:05 p.m. came up with an outstanding effort off the bench, going for 13 Feb. 20 at Bowling Green 1 p.m. points, a team-high eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks Feb. 26 Butler * 8 p.m. Mar. 2-9 at Horizon League Championships in 23 minutes of action. All times Central. Home games in bold and played at Athletics-Recreation Center. Following the Crusaders: Thursday’s game can be heard live ! - indicates exhibition game on the Valpo Sports Radio Network (WAKE, 1500 AM, Val- # - at Legends Classic (Campus sites/Statesboro, Ga.) paraiso; WEFM, 95.9 FM, Michigan City; WLPR, 89.1 FM, * - indicates Horizon League game Lowell). Veteran broadcaster Todd Ickow returns for his 19th season on play-by-play for the Crusaders, while Valpo alumnus Andy Viano will handle the color commentary. The game can 2009-2010 CRUSADER ROSTER also be seen live online on the Horizon League Network. Links # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown/High School [Prev. School] for the VSRN audio and HLN Video, as well as live statistics, can 1 Michael Rogers G 6’6" 215 Jr. Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption [N.Y.] Christian be found at www.valpoathletics.com. 3 Hrvoje Vucic C 7’1” 220 Fr. Split, Croatia/Faust Vrancic 4 Cory Johnson F 6’7” 225 R-Jr. Duluth, Minn./Duluth East (Iowa State) 5 Cameron Witt F 6’9” 215 So. Launceston, Tasmania, Australia/Launceston SPORTS MEDIA RELATIONS 10 Brandon McPherson G 6’1" 210 R-Sr. Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North 11 Nick Shelton G 5’11” 150 So. Frankenmuth, Mich./Frankenmuth Requests to cover home games should be made through 14 Howard Little G 6’3” 205 Jr. Chicago, Ill./Stoneridge [Calif.] School Aaron Leavitt, Associate Director of Sports Media Relations, 15 Erik Buggs G 5’10” 155 So. Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell by contacting 219-464-6953. Seating is available courtside at 20 Tommy Kurth G 6’1” 175 Fr. Osceola, Ind./Penn 23 Matt Kenney G 6’3” 205 Fr. Mooresville, Ind./Mooresville the ARC for working media. Media guides, game notes and 32 Brandon Wood G 6’2” 190 R-So. Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo (Highland C.C./Southern Ill.) statistics from both schools will be available to working media. 33 Chris Halvorsen F 6’8” 190 Fr. St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley During the week, all player and coach interview requests 42 Milos Milosevic F 6’7” 235 So. Bar, Montenegro/Oakmont [Calif.] H.S. (Yuba College) should be directed to Aaron Leavitt. Media planning to attend 45 Ryan Broekhoff G 6’6” 185 Fr. Frankston, Victoria, Australia/Australian Institute of Sport Head Coach: Homer Drew (William Jewell ‘66) - 21st season at Valpo (615-411 overall; 346-289 at Valpo) practice should call ahead to Leavitt to confirm practice time. Associate Head Coach: Bryce Drew (Valparaiso ‘98) - 5th season Game-day interviews prior to the match are not permitted. Assistant Coaches: Luke Gore (Bethel [Tenn.] ‘01) - 8th season; Coach Drew and requested players, as well as requested visiting rd Chris Sparks (Valparaiso ‘00) - 3 season personnel, will be available following the game. Student Assistant: Jake Diebler (Valparaiso ‘09) - 1st season Graduate Assistant: Dan Hartfield (Green Bay ‘09) - 1st season CRUSADER GAME NOTES Valparaiso at Cleveland State Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 6 p.m. CST Men’s Basketball Contact: Aaron Leavitt [email protected] 219.464.6953 (phone) * 219.464.5762 (fax) 1009 Union Street * Valparaiso, IN * 46383 www.valpoathletics.com League Play = Close Games: Valparaiso’s non-league slate this year HORIZON LEAGUE featured just two single-digit decisions in 12 games, but once the Cru- HORIZON LEAGUE STANDINGS (as of Feb. 10) saders got to league play, the script flipped 180 degrees. Through 14 STATISTICS (as of Feb. 10) league contests, Valpo has faced single-digit games 11 times already, TEAM HL OVR SCORING PPG Butler 14-0 21-4 including each of the last fiver outings. This league season has been similar in nature for the Crusaders to the 2007-2008 league campaign, 1. Brandon Wood - Valpo 18.5 Cleveland State 8-4 12-12 2. Norris Cole - CSU 16.2 Green Bay 8-5 16-9 Valpo’s first season as a Horizon League member, when 14 of its 18 games were decided by nine or fewer points. 3. Rahmon Fletcher - UWGB 16.2 Wright State 8-5 15-9 4. Gordon Hayward - Butler 15.7 Valparaiso 8-6 13-13 5. Cory Johnson - Valpo 15.4 Detroit 7-6 15-10 A New Level of Drama: Of the 11 single-digit games the Crusaders Milwaukee 5-7 13-11 have contested in league play, eight of those games have been within REBOUNDING RPG Loyola 4-10 13-11 one possession in the final 15 seconds. And if it seems that recently 1. Andy Polka - Loyola 8.6 Youngstown State 2-11 8-15 the games have been more nailbiting than usual, it’s because each of 2. Eli Holman - Detroit 8.2 UIC 2-12 6-18 the last five games (@UWM, @GB, WSU, UDM, UIC) are included 3. Randy Berry - UWGB 7.9 among the aforementioned eight. 4. Gordon Hayward - Butler 7.8 SCHEDULE 5. Jeremy Buttell - UIC 7.3 Thursday, February 11 Offense Produces: The Crusader offense has continued to be the *Butler at Youngstown State, 6 p.m. ASSISTS APG key to the team’s resurgence in the win/loss column these past few *Green Bay at Detroit, 6 p.m. 1. Spencer Stewart - UIC 4.9 *Milwaukee at Wright State, 6 p.m. weeks. Valpo, which boasts the top scoring offense in the Horizon 2.