After the first 20 minutes of the V.U. Crusaders vs IU South Bend Titans game, I sat wondering how was it even remotely possible that the Crusaders came within 11 points of 6th Ranked North Carolina only a few days earlier? They were missing shots, they were sluggish, they were out rebounded, outplayed, & out scored in every area of the game. (Let's give some credit to the Titans).
In my previous years of watching Valpo play, they had times as a slow starting 2nd half team. After a 10-4 spurt, the Crusaders were down 43-34 and I was thinking "uh-oh". During a time out, I turned to the friends behind me and my wife and said "McPherson is a 5th Year Senior, he needs to step up & take control of this game and team with leadership" .....and he did!!!
Valpo went on a 21-0 run! It all started with Howard Little and Eric Buggs defense to start the 2nd half ! This combined with one of the most impressive 3 point shooting bonanza I have ever seen by Brandon McPherson. Having season tickets in the front row, it was an absolute treat to see him right in front of me knocking down 3pointers... 4 in a row! It was as though the basket was 10ft wide:) Whatever he threw-up, WENT IN! Brandon ended the game with a career high of 25pts.
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Valpo won the game final score = 78-56.
This is a young team and there are 2 players that, in my opinion, will need to step it up and be the Leaders - McPherson and Little. Both these guys are very solid players and with their leadership and hard play as examples, Valpo may just have a pretty good year !
Editorial By Jeff Safrin
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