Its the Finals of the Horizon League Tournament tonight and we will see the Wright State Raiders travel to Valparaiso, Indiana to take on the Valparaiso Crusaders. The game is scheduled for a 9:00 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised on ESPN. Currently the Odds for the game have Valparaiso favored by 7.5 points while the total sits at 121.5.
Analysis: The Crusaders claimed their first Horizon League regular-season title a season ago, winning the crown by two games. They were unable to translate that success into the conference tourney and ended up in the NIT instead of the Big Dance. It looked like Valpo was headed for another undesired trip to the NIT Tournament as it trailed Green Bay by two points with just seconds remaining on Saturday in the semifinals. Ryan Broekhoff drilled a 3-pointer as time expired to send the Crusaders back to the championship game. Broekhoff's clutch 2-pointere helped the Crusaders improve 15-2 at home this season. Broekhoff (16.2 ppg) is not only the top rebounder for Valpo with 7.4 rpg, he is also first on the squad with 44.0 percent shooting behind the 3-point line, adding 66 assists and 25 blocked shots for good measure. Van Wijk checks in with 12.8 ppg and 5.3 rpg to form a very tough front line. Lavonte Dority and Matt Kenney are valuable role players for Bryce Drew, who was named the HL Coach of the Year after his team's stellar performance. Although Valpo is hosting the title game, it was in the same situation last season before it was upset by Detroit.
Wright State was picked to finish last in the HL preseason polls, but Billy Donlon's squad used the predictions as bulletin board material and enters Tuesday with a 21-11 overall record, which included a solid 10-6 mark in- conference, good enough for the third-seed in this event. Wright State punched its ticket to the finals on Saturday with a 56-54 win over Detroit, marking its third straight victory. Miles Dixon netted 14 points, including the game-winning jumper in the waning seconds in the second round. It marked the second consecutive 14-point outing for Dixon, who will be in line for the HL Tournament MVP award if the Raiders manage to escape Valparaiso with a win. Also getting into the mix, Jerran Young added 12 points and six rebounds for the Raiders. A championship run is going to be difficult for the Raiders who are even bigger underdogs without their leading scorer Cole Darling, who is still unavailable due to a foot injury. Without Darling, the Raiders shot 52.4 percent from the floor and 5-of-9 from 3-point range against Detroit. Wright State did a tremendous job defensively as it held the Titans' star players Ray McCallum and Nick Minnerath to a combined 3-of-16 from the field.
Pick: I like the Raiders in this one. Wright State slowed down a very fast Detroit squad and held them to just 54 points in the win and I feel that their defense can do it again in this one. Valpo's last 5 have averaged 142 ppg, while their home games have averaged 132.6 ppg, yet the OU line is 121.5, so odds makers feel that Wright State can slow the game down as well. The Raiders have allowed 57.6 ppg in their last 5 games and 59.8 ppg o the road, and while Valpo has allowed 59.1 ppg a home, they have allowed 65 ppg in their last 5 overall 93 were at home). I will go with the better defensive team getting a bunch of points.
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