Crusaders Fall To Detroit

Playing in its first ever Horizon League Championship, Valpo hoped to carry the momentum from its win over Butler into the game against Detroit. The game became a tale of two halves.  Six minutes into the first half, the Crusaders took a six to five lead and would not look back. However, an 11-0 run by the Titans in the second half saw the Titans take a 36-31 lead and put any hopes of a conference championship for Valpo away. 

The first half saw Valpo trail by three early on. But, a seven-0 run with 14:00 to play saw a 15-seven lead for the Crusaders that they would not relinquish. After another 8-7 Crusader run, and with 6:30 to play, Detroit was forced to call a timeout. This would allow the Titans to ultimately trim the deficit to 27-24 at the half. 

Valpo would take an early 31-25 lead in the second half, but an 11-0 run by Detroit would turn the tables in the Titans’ favor. With just over ten minutes to play in the second half, Ryan Broekhoff nailed a three-pointer to cut the Titans’ lead to 40-37. Another 12-0 run by Detroit extended the lead to 54-42, and put the game away for good. 

Despite the loss, the Crusaders are guaranteed a berth in the National Invitational Tournament as the regular season champions. While the magic of 1998 is gone, a deep run in the NIT is still possible. The Crusaders find out their destination and opponent at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

The only other appearance in the NIT came in 2003, where Valpo lost to Iowa in the opening round.

Butler Loses Third Straight to Valpo

February 24 was a night many Crusader fans will not forget. Having already clinched the regular season title outright, the Bulldogs were the final victory needed to secure the top seed in the standings. The game would turn out to be nothing short of a thriller as the Crusaders jumped out to an early 10 point lead and never looked back.

Going wire-to-wire, Valpo never let Butler get any closer than six points. This was also helped by a technical foul on the Butler bench and one of their better players fouling out. Two more of their players would also end up with four fouls as well.

After the game, the celebration began with Ryan “Rowdy” Broekhoff accepting the Regular Season Championship Trophy. The celebration continued in the locker room. Sophomore guard Jay Harris said that everyone was jumping around and having a good time.

When asked about what it was like to sweep Butler, senior Nick Shelton said, “Butler’s always the team you want to beat. It was exciting to finally be able to sweep them.”

Jay Harris echoed the same. “Butler’s always good, so it’s a great feeling to beat them.”

This is the first time since joining the Horizon League that the team has won the regular season outright. The Crusaders also have secured a double bye into Saturday’s semi-final against Milwaukee or Butler.

Will the magic of 1998 be repeated or will an NIT berth await them? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure though, and that this team is not who everyone thought they were.