Valpo/Detroit PPS

Valpo pulled off what will perhaps be the comeback of the year in college basketball yesterday.  After trailing by as much as 22 points in the second half and by 11 with under 3 minutes to play, the Crusaders found a way to win 89-88 at Detroit Mercy.  This match up featured the two leading candidates for the league POY and saw some of the highest PPS I've seen in a Valpo game to date.

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	200	1.03	0.35	0.68
Detroit	DET	200	0.95	0.34	0.61

Detroit dominated the first half, while Valpo was able to make the needed adjustments and maintain composure en route to a 57 point outburst in the second half.  Valpo used the hot shooting of KVW and Matt Kenney, won the rebounding battle, and finally had more assists then turnovers.  Detroit shot themselves in the foot with two silly technical fouls leading to 4 easy points for Ryan Broekhoff.  Outstanding performances from this game to the Crusaders VanWijk and Broekhoff, while Nick Minnerath put up a huge PPS for the Titans.

Player	School	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ryan Broekhoff	Valpo	35	1.40	0.29	1.11
Lavontae Dority	Valpo	20	1.00	0.60	0.40
Kevin Van Wijk	Valpo	30	1.87	0.20	1.67
Erik Buggs	Valpo	28	0.93	0.57	0.36
Matt Kenney	Valpo	30	0.18	0.25	-0.07
Will Bogan	Valpo	28	0.83	0.13	0.70

Detroit	DET	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ray McCallum	DET	35	0.80	0.60	0.20
Jason Calliste	DET	38	0.66	0.21	0.45
Nick Minnerath	DET	33	1.94	0.24	1.70
Doug Anderson	DET	31	1.06	0.26	0.80
Juwan Howard	DET	35	0.49	0.34	0.15

A few things worth noting.  Will Bogan's cold shooting continued for Valpo but he did a nice job chasing Jason Calliste around all night and limiting his effectiveness.  Also worthy of mention was the POY candidate Ray McCallum was completely taken out of this game by the defensive effort of Erik Buggs.  Buggs is notorious in these parts for low PPS, seeing him finish with a higher score then Jr will be a real treat for all Crusader fans. 

The Broekhoff/McCallum race for POY was a little one sided this night and Rowdy should be separating himself from the field of POY contenders with his season long run of solid play.