FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Raitis Grafs had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead
Valparaiso to a 65-54 victory over Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis in the
semifinals of the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament Monday.
Valparaiso (24-7) will play Southern Utah in the
championship Tuesday night. It is the Crusaders seventh straight appearance in
the tournament final.
Valparaiso used a 13-3 surge to take a 55-43 lead after IUPUI (11-18) had
cut the deficit to two on a pair of free throws by Josh Fitzwater with 8:24 to
play. Mike Nelke hit a 3-pointer to start the run and Lubos Barton combined
with Grafs for eight points as the Crusaders took control.
IUPUI got no closer than nine points the rest of the game.
Barton had 13 points and eight assists for Valparaiso and Dwayne Toatley
added 13 points. The Crusaders played without Milo Stovall, their leading
scorer in conference play at 14.6 points a game, because of mononucleosis.
Matt Hermes led IUPUI with 16 points and Taj Hawkins had 12. The Jaguars
made just 4-of-20 shots in the second half. Game summary
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Fred House scored 25 points to lead Southern Utah over Oral Roberts.
The Thunderbirds (24-5) will face Valparaiso in the championship game
Tuesday night.
Oral Roberts (10-19) got as close as 37-35 in the second half on a 3-pointer
by Luke Spencer-Gardner, but Southern Utah used back-to-back 3-point baskets by
House and Jeff Monaco to build a 10-point cushion with 13:13 to play. Oral
Roberts got no closer than nine the rest of the half.
Monaco added 17 points and Justin Sant and Dan Beus scored 14 apiece for the
Thunderbirds.
Spencer-Gardner and Markius Barnes led Oral Roberts with 11 points apiece.
Matt Gastel and Josh Atkinson had 10 points each.
The Thunderbirds led throughout the first half, though the Golden Eagles did
get as close as 24-23 on a Kyan Brown basket with 3:19 to play. Southern Utah
closed the half with an 8-2 run for a 33-25 lead.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2001, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved