Men’s Basketball
Smits steps up with double-double as Valparaiso downs Northern Iowa
Valparaiso’s Derrik Smits had his shot blocked, grabbed the rebound, missed, got the rebound again and scored on his third try.
Most of the plays made by the 7-foot-2 junior center in the Crusaders’ 75-66 Missouri Valley Conference win against Northern Iowa were more straightforward than that one.
But Smits’ sequence to start Saturday’s second half at the Athletics-Recreation underscored his energy and effort.
“I’d definitely say I wouldn’t have made that play the last couple years,” Smits said. “I had the strength, and it was partially me being mad I got blocked, so I made sure I got the ball back and scored.”
Smits did a bevy of scoring and rebounding for the Crusaders (12-7, 5-1) against the Panthers (8-11, 3-3), posting 21 points and 11 rebounds. Valparaiso made a concerted effort to get the ball inside to Smits and he responded.
He also made wise decisions, taking the ball to the basket when opportunities arose and passing to teammates when Northern Iowa collapsed on him. He took a career-high 18 shots, making nine.
“It’s always nice to get the ball in your hands,” Smits said. “I feel like it put us in a good situation because they were doubling and it was four-on-three on the back side. We kept going to it.”
Smits impressed Valparaiso coach Matt Lottich with his “huge” performance.
“He’s in his fourth year in college, so you hope you get better,” Lottich said. “Derrik’s always had skill. He’s added a lot of toughness, a lot of bulk.”
Valparaiso led by as many as 11 points in the first half and 10 in the second before Northern Iowa closed to 60-57 with 4:12 left. But Smits scored inside on consecutive possessions to give the Crusaders a 64-57 lead with 2:53 left.
“Smits has improved quite a bit from a year ago,” Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “He was really effective at both ends of the floor. He gave us a hard time.”
Bakari Evelyn and Deion Lavender hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final two-plus minutes, and Javon Freeman scored his first points on a dunk with 36 seconds left on a home-run inbound pass to help the Crusaders put away the game.
Evelyn, who didn’t play in the second half of Tuesday’s loss at Loyola because of illness, felt much better. He had 14 points, including shooting 3-for-6 from 3-point range. Markus Golder added 13 points, all in the first half. Evelyn’s final three came after Northern Iowa had closed to 64-60.
“We were trying to get it into Smits again — everyone knew that,” Evelyn said. “We were loading up on the back side, the shot clock was going down, so I set my feet and put it up.”
Valparaiso again was without junior guard/forward Ryan Fazekas. The Marquette graduate missed his third straight game with a right ankle injury.
The Crusaders overcame a game-high 25 points from Northern Iowa freshman AJ Green to keep pace atop the conference with Loyola.
“We had good practices leading up,” Lottich said. “Our prep was good, and I was pleased with our performance.”
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