Beacons snap losing streak with emotional win

MBB: Powell Jr. captures first Valley win in return to arena where his father starred

Roger Powell Jr. has denied sentimentality at every turn this season.

The first-year Valparaiso men’s basketball coach downplayed any emotion in his return to Illinois when the Beacons played against Powell’s alma mater in November. He bristled at the suggestion there might be significance for a return trip to Nashville, the city where he once coached Vanderbilt. He even downplayed any meaning for Ola Ajiboye going back to Central Michigan where he played as a freshman last season.

Powell has been so locked in on the present and leading the Beacons to victory that he hasn’t taken the time to look in the past.

That all changed in the aftermath of Valparaiso’s 59-50 victory over Illinois State.

Coaching in the same arena where his father, Roger Powell Sr., earned Illinois State Hall of Fame honors as three-year starter, Powell finally felt all the emotion catch up with him on Sunday afternoon.