Men's Basketball Beats Valparaiso, Improves to 16-3

Jack Smiley shoots a mid-range shot. Photo by Ava Gorney.

Belmont’s men’s basketball team pulled out a gritty 78-74 win over the Valparaiso Beacons to improve to 16-3 on the year and 5-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play on Tuesday.

The Bruins, in their first home game since winter break, were looking to deliver a win after setting a program record with their 25-point comeback win against Drake. 

“We win our lion's share of games here, but I just want us to play better,” said Casey Alexander. “I’m kind of begging for a game where we just put it all together at home. We’ve had a few great tip-to-buzzer performances, and we’vehad a lot of great second-half performances, but they’ve all been on the road." 

Redshirt sophomore Sam Orme, who hit the game-winning shot against Drake, picked up where he left off and scored the first basket for Belmont.  

Orme getting on the board started a 15-5 run in which six different Bruins scored to open the game.  

Valparaiso answered with fifth-year senior Brody Whitaker’s four-point play, and later, redshirt senior Owen Dease scored six straight points to give Valparaiso the lead. 

The stretch ignited a tense back-and-forth to close the half, with neither team leading by more than three points over the final 10 minutes. 

Tied 39-39 with less than 30 seconds left, redshirt freshman Jabez Jenkins hit a fadeaway jumper to give the Bruins a 41-39 lead at the break. 

It was an efficient first half for the Bruins, who shot 57.7% from the field and went 7 of 12 from 3-point range. Jenkins led the team with 11 points. 

The second half opened with more back-and-forth offense before freshman Jack Smiley, a Valparaiso, Indiana, native, made his presence felt for the Bruins. 

Smiley, a former standout at Valparaiso High School, hit a 3-pointer to push Belmont’s lead to five. 

Smiley’s three-pointer was the catalyst for a 15-5 Belmont run that spanned six minutes and brought the lead up to 12 points with 8:31 left to play.  

Then, Belmont went cold. 

The Beacons cut the lead to one with 2:15 to go after outscoring Belmont 15-4 across a six-minute stretch that saw the Bruins shoot 2-9 from the floor with a turnover. 

Belmont’s skid ended when redshirt sophomore Drew Scharnowski hit a layup to put the Bruins up 72-69 with 1:51 to play. 

Valparaiso answered back with a three-pointer from freshman Rakim Chaney to tie things up at 72 with 1:26 left. 

The pressure was on the Bruins to respond. However, instead of feeding the ball to the veteran sharpshooter Tyler Lundblade, or even Orme after his late-game heroics last game, they passed the ball to redshirt freshman Eoin Dillon. 

Dillon backed down his defender, spun and threw up a hook shot to give the Bruins a 74-72 advantage with 1:07 to play.  

“[Dillon] scores it great with touch, feel and his ability to get good shots. But he also is poised, he doesn’t lose his dribble and doesn’t rush things,” said Alexander. “He's probably the edgiest guy we have.” 

In need of a stop, the Bruins left junior Shon Tupola all alone for a flush that re-tied the score at 74 apiece with 36 seconds left to play. 

Once again on offense, the Bruins got the ball to Dillon, who found Scharnowski in the paint for the game-winning shot with 11 seconds to play. 

“We work on this every day in practice as big men. I saw him ducking in, so I had to give him the ball because I trust Drew with everything,” said Dillon. 

Add in a Chaney miss from three and a couple of Lundblade free throws, and the Bruins escaped with a 78-74 win. 

Belmont ended the game shooting 56% from the floor, 40% from deep, and 100% from the free-throw line. 

However, the Bruins attempted only six free throws, two of which came with one second left, and scored well below their season average of 13 points per game from the free-throw line. 

Meanwhile, Valparaiso took 15 free throws, and Alexander pointed to Valparaiso’s physicality and aggressive nature for the free throw disparity. 

“That’s how they play, and the aggressor is usually the one who goes to the free throw line, and I felt like they were that. The offensive rebounds show that,” said Alexander. 

Belmont allowed Valparaiso to turn 14 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points.  

Jenkins had 17 points to lead all Bruins and was joined in double figures by Dillon with 12, Smiley with 11 and Orme and Scharnowski with 10 points each. 

In addition, Belmont got a big scoring boost from its bench, with Dillon, Smiley and junior Brigham Rogers combining for 29 points. 

The Bruins are back in action against Southern Illinois on Saturday, and they are looking for revenge after losing at home to the Salukis on a buzzer-beater earlier in the season.

This article was written by Sam Dicus