(St. Louis, MO) – So far so good for Missouri Valley Conference teams in the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge. Wednesday night Valley teams took three of five games between the rival conferences and hold a 5-to-3 edge heading into Saturday’s games along I-74.
There were some outstanding performances, career highs and gritty play.
No Barnes – No Problem
Indiana State went into their game with San Jose State without their all-conference guard Jordan Barnes. Coach Greg Lansing inserted Clayton Hughes who turned in a Barnes-like 23-point performance and the Sycamores won easily 86-57.
Barnes is out with a concussion. The Sycamores are now 4-1.
Smits for 20
Junior center Derrik Smits missed Valparaiso’s first two games and scored seven points in his first game back in the lineup. Since then the 7’1 junior has reached the 20 point plateau in three times in four games. Valpo defeated UNLV 72-64 and Smits recorded a double-double scoring 20 points and snagging 12 rebounds.
The Crusaders are 4-3.
Acing the Test
John Hall came up big for Evansville. The 6’7 sophomore broke out with a double-double performance (21 points, 11 rebounds) and the Purple Aces knocked off Wyoming 86-78. Hall averaged under three points per game last season and upped his current average to 12.0.
UE ran its home record to 3-0 and evened their overall record to 3-3.
Overtime Pays Off
Illinois State wasn’t a part of ‘the Challenge’ last night, but fought back from a 14-point deficit, forced overtime and defeated BYU 92-89. Phil Fayne (20 points and ten rebounds) hit clutch free throws and was one of five Redbirds to reach double-digits in scoring. Junior transfer Zach Copeland scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and contributed seven assists.
The Redbirds are 6-2. They host San Diego State in ‘the Challenge’ on Saturday.
Northern Iowa and Missouri State dropped games as part of ‘the Challenge’ and Bradley lost at IUPUI.
The Braves host New Mexico to conclude ‘the Challenge’ on Saturday.
MVC teams have gone 5-3 the last installment of this series with two to play.
So far so good.
Do Good
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As we near the closing of the portal window, we've reached 1900. Some of them never to play college basketball again, earn a college degree and some to play at a much lower level than they did last season.
I guess we'll be seeing this in a @RacersHoops uniform this year. Glad AJ is staying in the @ValleyHoops.
