Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky had a two-point lead midway through the second half but visiting Valparaiso used a 22-4 run in the latter stages of the contest to pull away for a 72-66 victory Wednesday night in McBrayer Arena.
 
Senior Timmy Knipp led the Colonels (4-2) with a season-high 16 points and five rebounds. Fellow senior Corey Walden added 13 tallies and five boards.
 
Alec Peters paced Valpo (8-1) with 21 points, thanks to making a career-high seven three-pointers and shooting 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from behind the arc.
 
Eastern Kentucky held a 45-43 lead with 12:37 remaining following Knipp's fourth three-pointer. However, the Colonels went cold after that shot and only made one field goal in the ensuing nine-plus minutes.
 
Valparaiso took the lead for good when a Vashil Fernandez tip-in made the score 47-45 with 10:28 left. Peters hit two of his seven trifectas during that stretch as the Crusaders began to pull away. A Tevonn Walker jumper gave Valpo its largest lead of the game with 3:20 remaining, 65-49.
 
Valparaiso began the game on fire, hitting six of its first seven three-point attempts, to build a 23-11 cushion. The Colonels slowly battled back and took the lead, 28-27, on a Jaylen Babb-Harrison transition lay-up. The Crusaders scored the final five points of the first half to take a 32-30 lead into intermission.
 
There were two ties and 10 lead changes early in the second half before the Crusaders put together the pivotal 22-4 run.
 
Valparaiso shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from the floor in the final 20 minutes, including 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from three-point range.
 
Eastern Kentucky is back in action this Sunday, Dec. 7 at No. 1 Kentucky. The game, which is being televised by the SEC Network, is set to tip at 6 p.m.
 
NOTES
Eastern Kentucky entered the game tied for the 12th longest home court non-conference winning streak in the nation.  That streak was snapped at 25 straight games.
 
Valpo had beaten its previous five opponents by an average of 20 points per game.
 
Valparaiso entered the game with an RPI of 67.  EKU came into today's contest with an RPI of 133.
 
Both teams entered the game allowing less than 60 points per contest.  The Crusaders had given up 57.8 points while the Colonels had allowed 58.4 points per game.
 
EKU entered the game first in the nation in turnover margin (+16.6).  The Colonels finished with nine fewer turnovers than the Crusaders.
 
Over the last six games, Valpo had out-scored its opponents off turnovers by 54 points, or 9.0 points per game.  Eastern held a 14-8 advantage in points off turnovers tonight.
 
On Saturday, Valparaiso defeated OVC preseason favorite Murray State by 35 points in Nashville.
 
Valparaiso is ranked No. 14 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25.
 
Eric Stutz is 98 points and two rebounds away from becoming the 13th player in Eastern Kentucky to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds.
 
Corey Walden now needs 67 more steals to break the EKU career record of 221.
 
This was the sixth meeting between the two teams.  EKU leads the all-time series 3-2.