Game Wrap Up: Down go the Dukes

What a weekend of basketball at the ARC!  After grinding out a victory against Arkon on Friday, the pick up game against IUK, the Crusaders had a dominating performace against Duquesne.  The Crusaders were the better team in nearly every aspect of the game: rebounding, shooting, and coaching.  This Valpo team looked awefully good tonight and if they can continue to build and improve off of this the other HL teams will be in for a heck of a fight when the Crusaders come to town.

The Game
Valpo started the game on a nice run taking advantage of what appeared to be a tired Duquesne team.  However, I'm not sure tired legs had everything to do with what happened tonight.  The Crusaders hit some three point shots early on, a nice change of pace, and road that hot shooting from Ryan Broekhoff (21 points 5-9 3pt), Jay Harris (17 points 3-3 3pt) and the inside presence of Kevin VanWijk (22 points).

The Dukes did play a tough a game against Akron yesterday, but I think that given full rest they couldn't beat this Valpo team.  The biggest reason is that Coach Drew completely outcoached his counterpart this evening.  After the threes started dropping the Dukes were forced to stop sagging into the paint and had to come out and defend a bit more closely.  Then they tried helping and slapping the ball out of KVW's hands when he put in on the court.  This strategy worked until Bryce started bringing everyone to the same side of the court.  The Dukes continued to front KVW allowing and easy over the top entry pass which led to an easy score.  Even when the Duke defender played behind they were no match for KVW's post stregnth.  This went on for probably the last 25 minutes of the game and I never once saw Duquesne make an adjustment.  The Crusaders doubled up the Dukes on the boards 17 to 34.

Player of the Game

The nod goes to Ryan Broekhoff for his hot shooting which led him to 21 points and his team leading 13 rebounds.  Rowdy had a double double before the half time break.

POTG Runner Up
As much as I'd like to give it to Jay Harris, how can you ignore Kevin VanWijk.  I said it the other day and I'll say it again, if he can keep this up you are looking at an All Horizon League player.  VanWijk again led the Crusaders with 22 points, claimed 9 rebounds, and hit a respectable 10-15 from the free throw line.

Up Next
Valpo travels to The Ohio State Univesity to take on the highly touted Buckeyes and POTY candidate Jared Sullinger on the 25th.

*Photos borrowed from the VU Flickr page.  Remember to follow us on facebook and twitter!