University of Maine
Valparaiso
Lawton and Little Lead Attack but Valparaiso Downs Maine Men's Basketball, 93-70
11/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – Alec Peters poured in a career-high 31 points for the Valparaiso men's basketball team and led his squad to a 93-70 victory over the University of Maine Black Bears, in the final game of the Central Michigan tournament on Sunday morning. With the loss the Black Bears fall to 0-4 while Valpo improves to 4-1.
Junior Shaun Lawton, who entered the contest as Maine's leading point producer, continued to produce for Maine as he shot an efficient 4-of-6 from the floor and a perfect 8-of-8 from the stripe to give him 16 points for the game. He also added three rebounds and two assists along with two steals. That makes 10-straight contests in which Lawton has recorded a steal and seven of his last 11 that he has recorded double-figure points and at least one steal.
Along with Lawton was Kevin Little who had his best offensive day as a Black Bear, pouring in 15 points, shooting just under .500 from the field (6-of-13) and he was accurate from long range going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Little chipped in four rebounds, three steals to go along with the point total.
Also reaching double-figures was Aaron Calixte who recorded 10 points and Priovic also got into double-figures in consecutive games for the first time in his career with 10.
While Maine had four players reach double figures, Valpo's offense was lethal, shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 57 from beyond the arc. Aside from Peters, Tevonn Walker recorded 16 points, Darien Walker had 11 and David Skara notched 10 points.
Valparaiso edged the Black Bears in rebounds 36-33, however Maine turned the ball over 23 times to Valpo's 19.
Peters and his offense didn't waste any time getting the jump on the Black Bears as the squad raced out to a 17-2 lead before an Erik Nissen layup at the 15 minute mark broke the run.
The score got to be 20-4 before the Black Bears began to close the gap a bit, started by a Little trey, off a Gloger assist, with 14:48 left in the half.
A short 6-2 run got the Black Bears to within nine of the lead before the Crusaders began to pull away once again.
A Calixte 3-point bucket with 9:41 left in the first half kept the deficit to a 10-point lead but Valpo finished the half on a 24-9 run to head to the break up 53-28. Peters scored 22 of his 31 points in the first frame.
A shimmy and shake fastbreak and a free throw make from Calixte opened the second half to make it 53-31, but the story was much the same on the offensive end for Valparaiso.
Peters answered Calixte's three-point play with a trey of his own to make it 56-31 and just minutes later, Peters tallied his record-setting jumper with 12:34 scoring his final points to make it 72-42.
The Black Bears went on to put together a solid second half, outscoring Valpo 42-40 in the final frame but it wasn't enough as the Crusaders notched the 93-70 victory to close out the Central Michigan Tournament.
Lawton ended the tournament as part of the All-Tournament team as he averaged 12.5 points, 2.0 steals and 3.0 rebounds along with 1 assist through the two tournament games.
The Black Bears now go home for the Thanksgiving break before traveling out to Northern Illinois next weekend for a Nov. 30 date against the Huskies. That game is slated to tip off at 1 p.m.
