Notes from St. Louis: Basketball takes backseat for Beacons as season ends

MBB: Northern Iowa's band provides key assist for Valparaiso

ST. LOUIS - The emotions started to hit Kobe King during the final media timeout of his college basketball career.

After going the entire second half without a break, the Valparaiso fifth-year senior was subbed out of Thursday’s Arch Madness loss to Murray State. With the Beacons trailing by 27 points with 3:29 remaining in the game, it wouldn’t have been a surprise for Valparaiso men’s basketball coach Matt Lottich to empty the bench for the final moments of the 2022-23 season.

King didn’t see it that way. After a short 14-second break that included a giant lump in his throat and some puffiness under his eyes, King asked to be checked back in the game. He wanted to finish his career on the court with the rest of Valparaiso’s senior class.

It was the culmination of a journey that took King from a decorated high school career to a starter in the Big Ten to a furniture hauler in Minnesota and all the way back to the bright lights of Arch Madness. It was the longest of journeys and the quickest of endings on Thursday night.