VU men ride spectacular start to win Horizon League battle for first

Even Ryan Broekhoff had to admit he was surprised to look up at the scoreboard early in Thursday's game at Cleveland State to see 17-1 and 28-8.

Those were scores in Valparaiso's favor at the start of a huge Horizon League game before 4,521 at the Wolstein Center. The Crusaders milked it all the way to a 59-41 victory over the Vikings to take over first place in the conference.

Broekhoff scored the first 11 points of the game and made his first six 3-point shots on his way to game highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds.

"I'll admit I was (surprised)," Broekhoff said. "Each time I've come to to Cleveland State, they're the ones to jump the gun and get on top of us early."

The shocking start propelled the Crusaders (18-8, 11-3) to the top of the Horizon League, a half game ahead of the Vikings (20-5, 10-3).

Most importantly, Valpo has swept the season series, so it owns the head-to-head tiebreaker when it comes to seeding -- and hosting -- the conference tournament.

"The one thing this team has done a great job of doing is looking at one game at a time," Valpo coach Bryce Drew said. "We realize it's a long conference season. Last year we were 11-3, and we know things can change very quickly. Now our focus will be on Youngstown State (Saturday)."

Broekhoff and Richie Edwards did most of the damage while helping build the early 20-point lead. Edwards made three 3-pointers in the first nine minutes, and Broekhoff hit a deep 3-pointer with two defenders in his face and the shot clock winding down for a 25-8 lead with 8:52 remaining in the half.

Meanwhile, the Vikings struggled mightily against Valpo's mix of zone and man-to-man defense. They started 0-for-9 from the floor and didn't make a basket until a Trey Harmon 3-pointer at the 11:38 mark.

CSU didn't hit break into double figures until a layup by Tim Kamczyck with 3:52 remaining. The Vikings were 6-of-25 shooting in the first half and finished the game 15-of-54 for a miserable 25.9 percent.

Still, Drew said he was nervous until the final minutes.

"They're so explosive as a team, and every time down I thought every defensive stop was important, because it could have snowballed," Drew said. "I just thank the Lord they never made two, three or four in a row, and by not scoring, it allowed us to get the ball up so they couldn't press."

A 9-0 run at the end of the first half got the Vikings within 29-17 at the break. But Broekhoff and Will Bogan each hit 3-pointers, and Edwards converted a three-point play to take the wind out of the Vikings' sail.

"Those things are demoralizing," CSU coach Gary Waters said. "They just cut your spirit out. We went back in the locker room trying to get our mind right; they hit those two, and boom, there's the ballgame.

"We missed nine layups in the first half. You miss nine layups, that's either not focused or uptight, and there's no reason to be uptight, because you're at home."

Valpo was content to work through most of the 35-second shot clock throughout the second half, and its lead never fell below 13 points.

Edwards finished with 20 points while playing 28 minutes, while Erik Buggs came through with eight points and three assists. Jeremy Montgomery was the only Viking in double figures with 15 points.

The win was tempered by an injury to Kevin Van Wijk. The 6-foot-8 post player went down with a left knee injury with seven minutes remaining in the first half and didn't return.

Drew said he would be evaluated today before getting clearance to play at Youngstown.

"We had a doctor look at it and from the first result it doesn't look like an ACL or anything," Drew said. "We won't know until we get further examination."