In a rare game when his shot was off, Alec Peters wanted to get to the foul line as often as possible.
The senior star’s free throws with 15.0 seconds left on Sunday at the Athletics-Recreation Center closed out Valparaiso’s 65-58 Horizon League win against Northern Kentucky.
The school’s scoring and rebounding leader shot 6-for-7 to break the career free throw record at 454, passing the mark of 452 Ed Eckart set from 1953-57.
Valparaiso (18-4, 8-1) shot 12-for-15 from the line, with Northern Kentucky (14-9, 5-5) going 2-for-8.
After trailing 6-0, the Crusaders led comfortably for much of the game before the Norse closed to 57-55 with 4:37 left. But Valparaiso scored on Shane Hammink’s drive after Tevonn Walker’s offensive rebound, Hammink’s two free throws and Peters’ four free throws in the last 1:09. Peters’ free throws came on either side of Northern Kentucky’s lone 3-pointer in the second half.
Northern Kentucky trimmed its deficit to two when Mason Faulkner came up with a steal and layup as Peters seemed to call timeout. The Crusaders were granted a timeout the second time around with 4:31 left.
“We had to get refocused,” Peters said. “It was just a fluke play. I wanted a timeout, I pointed it out, he didn’t give it to me.
“We needed to regroup. Coach called a timeout, got us refocused and got us to stop being so gunshy on the offensive end.”
Peters recorded his 14th double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, adding a season-high three steals. He shot 4-for-15 in posting his lowest points total in conference play and second lowest of the season.
Hammink scored a game-high 21 points. He made three 3-pointers for the second straight game and fourth time in his career, showing continued improvement with his jumper.
“It’s just putting in the time, working on my shot,” Hammink said. “I did it all summer too, I just didn’t start too well the first 12 games.”
Jaume Sorolla’s tip-in with 4:04 left in the first half gave Valparaiso a 31-17 lead. But Northern Kentucky shot 6-for-7 from 3-point range in the final 3:38 and 9-for-19 in the first half to draw to 38-37.
The Norse shot 1-for-12 in the second half as the Crusaders adjusted.
“It was more attention to detail, more communication,” Valparaiso coach Matt Lottich said. “We challenged them at halftime and they responded.
“It was, like, if you guys want to win this game, we’re going to have to run them off the 3-point line. We didn’t lack effort, we lacked a bit of execution. We talked about assignments and we did it.”
Walker had a season-high 11 rebounds and Micah Bradford had nine points on three 3-pointers. The freshman guard scored Valparaiso’s first six points on back-to-back 3-pointers as he made his sixth straight start.
“I’m finally getting the rhythm down and the speed of the game,” Bradford said.
Riding a seven-game win streak, the Crusaders reached the midway point of their conference schedule as the only team with fewer than three losses.
“We’ll take it, but I truly do not look at the standings,” Lottich said. “I’ll look at this game and how we can get better.
“We took positive steps. We didn’t play our best ball, but we played tough enough to win.”
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