Quarterfinal Friday at Arch Madness

Top 5 Teams Join the Fun

(St. Louis, MO) – After three tight and exciting games in the tournament’s first round, the Missouri Valley Postseason Basketball Tournament continues with four games today. Quarterfinal Friday at Arch Madness should prove to be high level basketball.

Thursday gave us four tight games and just one mild upset, so we have seven of the top eight teams still alive heading into today’s action.

Drake pulled that mild upset, knocking off eighth seeded Southern Illinois 67-63. The Bulldog program has now won a tournament record, ten-straight Arch Madness contests under three different head coaches.

The Valley’s leading scorer Jalen Quinn scored 16, second half points to lead the Bulldogs to victory. Eli Shetlar contributed 16 points and Owen Larson 14. SIU finishes their second season under Scott Nagy with a record of 16-16.

To no one’s surprise, Valparaiso and Indiana State played a ‘nail-biting’ game. They’ve been in those kinds of games all season and Valpo prevailed 63-62. It wasn’t a ‘buzzer-beating’ shot that won the game, but a last second Shon Tupuola block that secured the Beacons’ eighteenth win of the year.

Freshman Rakim Chaney led all scorers with 18 points. Camp Wagner led the Sycamores (11-21) with 13 points.

Northern Iowa’s 68-59 victory over Evansville doesn’t illustrate how tight this one was. With 2:53 left, it was a two-point game. Senior Trey Campbell led the Panthers with a brilliant, 23-point performance and Tristan Smith recorded a ten-point, 13-rebound double-double.

UE’s A.J. Casey matched Campbell’s 23 points as Evansville fell to 7-25.

Quarterfinal Friday Matchups

12:00 – # 1 Belmont (26-5, 16-4) v. # 10 Drake (13-19, 6-14)

The top-seeded Bruins collected a lot of trophies this week. How they respond to prosperity is the key to this game. They are far more talented than Drake. Belmont swept the regular season series between the two, winning by two-points at Drake and by 13 in Nashville.

Five Bruins were named to some all-Valley team. The headliner was ‘Larry Bird, Player of the Year’ Tyler Lundblade. The 6’5 grad student is one of the top three-point and free throw shooters nationally.

He’s joined on the All-MVC team by center Drew Scharnowski and second teamer Sam Orme. Rookies Jack Smiley and Eoin Dillon joined the league’s all-freshman team.

Belmont leads the league in virtually every offensive category and won the regular season race by three games. They are a top-60 team in the NET.

The gritty Bulldogs are near the bottom of every offensive category. Their challenge is huge, but the tenacity they showed on Thursday will serve them well if they are to upset the Bruins.

2:30 pm – # 4 Murray State (20-11, 12-8) v. Illinois Chicago (17-14, 12-8)

This has the potential to be the best game of the day. We go into great detail on this contest here. However, this feels like the game of the year for each team. They had very nice regular seasons, but to lose in the quarterfinal Friday would put a pall on the entire season.

Ryan Miller’s Racers were spectacular early and struggled late and Rob Ehsan’s Flames struggled early and were outstanding near the end. In some ways, this game will define their seasons.

MVC teams measure themselves on whether they play on Saturday in St. Louis. If former Ohio Valley Conference rivals Belmont and Murray State prevail today, this long-time rivalry game will be electric.

Quarter Final Friday – Bradley/Valpo

6:00 pm – # 2 Bradley (20-11, 13-7) v. Valparaiso (18-14, 11-9)

These two teams are so similar. While they have very important older players, they are led by underclassmen. Their coaches preach grit and toughness and they are each unyielding under pressure.

Valpo’s season has already had historic MVC ramifications. This is the Beacons’ best season since joining the Valley. Coach Roger Powell Jr wants more than a nice improvement.

Bradley’s season has been similar. Brian Wardle’s team was searching for its identity a lot of the season, but fought through it to win 20 games for the fourth straight year, but Wardle wants more than just another good campaign.

All-league guard Jaquan Johnson leads the Braves. His numbers are incredible, but his leadership as a sophomore in this demanding league might be even better. He was second in the Valley in scoring, fourth in assists and first in steals.

Alex Huibregste was a second-teamer and Montana Wheeler was named to the all-bench team and they have depth up front.

Powell’s youngsters were special. Chaney and fellow freshman J.T. Pettigrew are the sparks of this team, but senior Owen Dease is the Beacons’ leading scorer and grad student Brody Whitaker is a big contributor.

Pettigrew was named to the Valley’s all-freshman team and sophomore guard Justus McNair landed on the ‘most improved’ and all-bench teams.

Redbirds and the Panthers

8:30 pm – # 3 Illinois State (2011, 12-8) v. Northern Iowa (20-12, 11-9)

Preseason favorite Illinois State reached the third seed on the strength of sweeping their regular season series with the Panthers. Seven points separated them over the two games.

It is well documented how much better the Panthers are with Tristan Smith in the lineup. He missed the first game with Illinois State and played just 13 minutes in the second contest. He’s healthy now and will be an X-factor in this game.

The interior battle between Illinois State’s all-MVC center Chase Walker and rising sophomore Will Hornseth will bare watching. Hornseth was named to the league’s ‘most improved’ team.

Walker, guard Johnny Kinziger and and head coach Ryan Pedon have been pointing at this tournament all season.

If Illinois State and Bradley win on Friday, it would set up an epic battle between those ancient rivals.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo, courtesy of the Missouri Valley Conference.