Heartbreaking finish for Valparaiso

MBB: DeAveiro injured late as Beacons go cold in final two minutes against Bradley

The Victory Bell is a subscription-based website covering Valparaiso athletics. While the majority of stories are behind a paywall ($5.99 per month or $59.99 for the entire year), this story is free to all viewers. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help support local journalism. - PO

ST. LOUIS - All Wright and Cooper Schwieger may have been the engine of the Valparaiso men’s basketball team for the last 72 hours in St. Louis, but Darius DeAveiro has been the heartbeat for the last several years.

That heart was broken on Saturday night as DeAveiro had to be helped off the court in his final collegiate game after he suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury with two minutes remaining.

Trailing 66-65, DeAveiro got tangled up with Bradley’s Darius Hannah and was bent over backward while the officials whistled him for a foul. Yes, DeAveiro was called for a foul on a play in which he suffered a significant knee injury.

Hannah split a pair of free throws and the No. 11 Beacons proceeded to miss their final five shots as No. 2 Bradley iced a 70-65 victory away with three made free throws in the final 15 seconds.

The Braves will face No. 1 Drake in Sunday’s Arch Madness title game.

DeAveiro was unavailable to the media following the game and he was seen exiting the Enterprise Center on crutches. Valparaiso coach Roger Powell Jr. spoke at length about DeAveiro after the game, but didn’t provide a prognosis.

“Darius went down fighting like he always does,” Powell said while holding back tears. “He switched on a big and sacrificed his body. That hurt because he couldn’t finish on the court. I told these guys they had nothing to hang our heads down about. We changed some things. To have a kid like that fighting to the end and have to get helped off the court, it says a lot about who we are. We’re fighters and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to come back and cut some nets down here.”

The Beacons seemingly had a golden opportunity on Saturday as Valparaiso did what it has done all weekend in St. Louis and opened up a big lead in the first half as Wright scored 18 consecutive points for Valpo. His pullup jumper with 11:30 left in the first half gave the Beacons a 24-13 lead and had Valpo’s small, but boisterous, fanbase on its feet.

The Braves quicky scored 10 straight points to get within one point, but Wright came right back and buried back-to-back 3-pointers. Valparaiso ultimately took a 34-31 lead into the locker room.

With DeAveiro providing lockdown defense on Bradley’s star guard Duke Deen, the Beacons were able to hold off the unrelenting interior attack of Hannah (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Ahmet Jonovic (12 points, 8 rebounds) for a time.

The tide shifted on Valparaiso around the midway point of the second half, just as it did in the 2020 title game between the same two programs. Bradley freshman Jaquan Johnson scored five straight points to give the Braves their first lead of the second half at 54-51 with 10:36 remaining.

The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes, which included a 3-pointer from Wright and a hookshot from Schwieger. Valparaiso’s final lead came when Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro, who erupted for 13 of his 15 points in the second half, knocked down three free throws with 4:22 remaining to put the Beacons ahead 63-61.

Hannah had an offensive putback for Bradley to tie the game and then Deen added his lone 3-pointer when he buried a shot from the top of the key with 2:45 remaining. Two free throws from Schwieger brought the Beacons within one point and it appeared they would be getting the ball back after DeAveiro was rolled under moments later. He was instead called for a foul as Bradley fans cheered as the senior point guard writhed on the ground in pain.

Powell pleaded with the officials for a foul call as he walked across the court to see DeAveiro. When he apparently received word that DeAveiro would be unable to return to the court, Powell erupted in anger. As Valparaiso’s assistant coaches went to get Powell off the court, the medical staff and several players helped DeAveiro off the court.

“As soon as he went down, I got scared,” De La Cruz Monegro said. “This can’t be happening. There’s my brother. He showed me the way of a lot of things, especially on the court, and he gave me a lot of confidence.”

“Darius means everything to me,” Wright added as he struggled to contain his emotions. “He showed me the way. When he went down, I was pretty mad. I thought it was a foul on the other team or something. Darius is our guy. He’s the foundation of this program. He’s our leader. I wouldn’t be where I am right now without Darius.”

The Beacons (15-19) still had plenty of opportunities in the final two minutes, but the heartbeat was gone. Schwieger missed shot in the paint only to get the offensive rebound, but De La Cruz Monegro missed a second-chance jumper.

Valparaiso had another opportunity off a missed Deen 3-pointer, but Wright’s perimeter shot missed the rim and Kaspar Sepp’s offensive rebound went for naught as Tyler Schmidt was forced to chuck up a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.

Not wanting to foul Deen, the Beacons let 13 seconds run off the clock before fouling Christian Davis. The senior connected on both free throws to give the Braves a two-possession lead with 15 seconds left and Wright’s ensuing free throw was off the mark. Jonovic capped off the scoring by splitting a pair of free throws with three seconds remaining.

Wright finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-20 shooting, including 6-12 from the 3-point line. Schwieger had 19 points on 7-22 shooting while adding eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. De La Cruz Monegro’s 15-point outing was the first time in three games in St. Louis that someone other than Wright or Schwieger scored in double figures.

Hannah had 16 points to lead Bradley as the Braves shot 28 free throws to just 13 for the Beacons. Valparaiso was whistled for 19 fouls while Bradley was called for just nine.

“It was an unbelievable season from these guys,” Powell said. “It was a special group. A special group that put Valpo back on the map. It’s hard to be a group that changes the mindset of a program. The lack of respect that our program has gotten from the Missouri Valley Conference. The lack of respect that we’ve gotten nationally because we’ve been challenged. It has changed and these guys did it. I think going from a program in this conference where everybody looked at us as a guaranteed win to now you better bring your ‘A’ game. We can beat anybody and we were doing it with freshmen and sophomores. It was so special and I wanted to win this game tonight for these guys.”

The Victory Bell will have more coverage coming Sunday morning on what Cooper Schwieger and All Wright had to say about their collegiate futures as well as a look back on what the last 72 hours have meant to the Valparaiso basketball program.

(Photo courtesy of Valpo Athletics)