Valparaiso is moving to the Horizon League in 2007, dropping out of the Mid-Continent Conference, where most of its teams have competed since 1982, the school said Wednesday.

The school will remain in the Pioneer Football League.

Valparaiso president Dr. Alan Harre said the decision would help student athletes by limiting their travel.

The Mid-Continent Conference has schools as far away as Oklahoma, Utah and Louisiana, while the Horizon League has nine teams in five Midwestern states.

"Shorter travel also means less fatigue and increased concentration in the classroom," Harre said.

Valparaiso joins six other schools that have left the Mid-Continent Conference to join the Horizon League over the years.

Butler, Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Illinois-Chicago, Loyola-Chicago, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State and Youngstown State make up the Horizon League. Valparaiso's addition marks the first membership change for the Horizon League since Youngstown State joined in 2001.

Valpo's decision drops the Mid-Continent to seven teams, less than the required eight for a league to gain an automatic NCAA bid. Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne has wanted to join the Mid-Continent for several years and now might have its best chance.

Valparaiso will participate in the Horizon League in 17 intercollegiate sports.

Valparaiso's athletics history is highlighted by seven appearances in the NCAA men's basketball tournament from 1996-2004, including a trip to the round of 16 in 1998.

 Brandon Woods scored 16 points and J.R. Blount 15, and they both fueled a decisive second-half run as Loyola-Chicago defeated Detroit 64-55 in a Horizon League Tournament quarterfinal game Friday night.

Fourth-seeded Loyola (19-10) won its fifth game in a row to gain some revenge on No. 5 seed Detroit (16-16), which had defeated the Ramblers in the quarterfinals the last two seasons. Blake Schilb added 12 points for Loyola.

Detroit was led by Brandon Cotton with 20 points and Ben Green with 16.

Loyola advances to a semifinal Saturday night against top-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee (19-8), which won the conference regular season title for the third straight season.

Trailing by one point at the half, Woods made a basket and Schilb a 3-pointer to open the second period and put the Ramblers ahead for good at 27-23.

After the Titans had pulled within two points at 31-29 on a basket by Torvoris Baker with 16:11 left to play, the Ramblers reeled off 21 straight points to lead 52-29. Woods scored 10 points and Blount eight in the scoring run that put the game away.

Detroit finally broke the deadly drought with a 3-pointer by Jon Goode with 7:59 left to make it 52-32.

Loyola's Majak Kou hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the first period to cut Loyola's lead at the half to 23-22. Cotton scored three straight baskets to break open a tight game and put the Titans on top for good in the first half at 21-17.

Joah Tucker and Boo Davis scored 20 points apiece to lead Wisconsin-Milwaukee to an 80-66 victory over Loyola of Chicago in a Horizon League Tournament semifinal game Saturday night.

Milwaukee (20-8), the No. 1 seed and defending champion, will host the tournament title game Tuesday night against second-seeded Butler (18-11). The Bulldogs defeated Wis.-Green Bay 73-51 in the first semifinal.

The winner gets an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

In 2003, Milwaukee defeated Butler 69-52 to go to the tournament for the first time in school history. The Panthers also won the 2005 tournament, advancing all the way to the Sweet Sixteen under former Coach Bruce Pearl.

Adrian Tigert, who missed the last two games with a back injury, gave the Panthers a lift by returning to score 17 points and grab six rebounds.

Fourth-seeded Loyola (19-11) was led by Blake Schilb with 22 points, J.R. Blount with 17 and Majak Kou 12. The Panthers have beaten the Ramblers 11 consecutive games including 94-76 in last year's tournament semifinals.

Davis scored 13 of his team's first 18 points to lead Milwaukee to a 38-27 halftime lead they would never surrender.

After Wisconsin-Milwaukee won the Horizon League Tournament and an automatic bid to NCAA Tournament, first-year coach Rob Jeter cut down the nets.

Then he cut loose.

"I thought we couldn't score 87 points with the swing," Jeter said, taking a good-natured swipe at critics who thought his halfcourt offense would turn last year's NCAA regional semifinalists into a walking yawnfest.

Boo Davis scored 18 points to help the Panthers beat Butler 87-71 Tuesday night, earning the league's NCAA berth for the third time in four years.

Jeter, hired after Bruce Pearl left for Tennessee, takes most of his coaching and personality cues from former boss Bo Ryan, the respected but aloof coach at Wisconsin. Jeter showed a similar buttoned-down personality for most of his first season at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but loosened up after Tuesday's victory.

Wearing remnants of the net he and the players cut down around his neck, Jeter was asked if he had any actual dance moves to show off at the so-called "big dance."

"That's how I met my wife at a party," Jeter responded. "She liked to feel my moves, I guess."

 After Wisconsin-Milwaukee won the Horizon League tournament and an automatic bid to NCAA tournament, first-year coach Rob Jeter cut down the nets.

Then he cut loose.

``I thought we couldn't score 87 points with the swing,'' Jeter said, taking a good-natured swipe at critics who thought his halfcourt offense would turn last year's NCAA regional semifinalists into a walking yawnfest.

Boo Davis scored 18 points to help the Panthers beat Butler 87-71 Tuesday night, earning the league's NCAA berth for the third time in four years.

Jeter, hired after Bruce Pearl left for Tennessee, takes most of his coaching and personality cues from former boss Bo Ryan, the respected but aloof coach at Wisconsin. Jeter showed a similar buttoned-down personality for most of his first season at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but loosened up after Tuesday's victory.

Wearing remnants of the net he and the players cut down around his neck, Jeter was asked if he had any actual dance moves to show off at the so-called ``big dance.''

``That's how I met my wife at a party,'' Jeter responded. ``She liked to feel my moves, I guess.''

Wisconsin-Milwaukee won two of the previous three Horizon tournaments and past three regular-season titles. Then Pearl left.

``To have to accept a new coach, a new style, with their last season, I knew it was scary,'' Jeter said.

He inherited four returning starters from last year's team, and seems to have won them over.

``I looked at this situation with Bruce Pearl moving on as an opportunity to be coached by two great coaches,'' senior Adrian Tigert said.

Tigert was one of several players to step up Tuesday night after leading scorer Joah Tucker went to the bench with his fourth foul only 39 seconds into the second half.

Even without Tucker, the Panthers (21-8) continued to rely on their inside game and got key contributions from reserves Derrick Ford and Mark Pancratz.

``Just a team effort,'' Jeter said. ``We faced some adversity there when Joah went down, and went deep in our bench.''

The Panthers outscored Butler 56-24 in the paint and outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-24.

``Milwaukee tonight will beat a lot, a lot of people,'' Butler coach Todd Lickliter said. ``They were very good.''

Brandon Polk scored 27 points to lead the Bulldogs (19-12). He also got in foul trouble, picking up his fourth when he was called for an offensive foul with 13:19 remaining in the game.

After struggling from 3-point range for much of the game, Butler closed to 65-56 on back-to-back 3s by Avery Sheets and Bruce Horan.

However, Davis answered with his own 3, putting the Panthers ahead by 12 with 5:21 remaining.

``We'd make a run and they'd answer,'' Lickliter said. ``We would have had to play almost flawless.''

The Panthers sealed the victory on a breakaway dunk by Jason McCoy, as Horan was called for an intentional foul. McCoy hit two free throws, stretching the lead to 79-62 with 3:21 remaining.

Fans swarmed the court at the buzzer.

The Panthers also defeated Butler to win the 2003 Horizon tournament.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee led 40-32 at halftime despite 17 first-half points by Butler forward Brandon Polk.

Polk scored nine points in a 13-2 run that put the Bulldogs ahead 24-19 with 9:21 remaining in the first half. However, the Panthers answered with an 11-0 run, taking a 26-24 lead on Davis' rebound and putback with 2:44 remaining in the half.

The Panthers' run included an alley-oop pass from Tucker to a skying Ford for a slam-dunk and a foul. Ford hit the free-throw to complete the three-point play.

Joah Tucker scored 24 points and Boo Davis 22 as Wisconsin-Milwaukee defeated Detroit 76-57 to clinch at least a share of the Horizon League regular season championship Tuesday night.

The Panthers (19-8, 12-4) hit a season-high 14 3-pointers to snap a two-game losing streak. Davis and Tucker both had five 3-pointers. Allan Hanson had three 3-pointers and scored 10 points.

Milwaukee won the title outright the last two seasons, but second-place Butler (10-4) can tie the Panthers by winning its last two games against Youngstown State and Detroit.

Milwaukee was without starting center Adrian Tigert, who hurt his back Feb. 11 in an 86-57 victory over Cleveland State.

Brandon Cotton scored 16 points for the Titans (14-15, 7-8), who lost their third straight game to the Panthers. Milwaukee beat Detroit 72-71 on Jan. 18 and 59-58 last March 8 for the league tournament championship. That victory gave the Panthers a berth in the NCAAA tournament and they went all the way to the Sweet Sixteen.

Davis hit his second straight 3-pointer with 15:24 left in the second half to give the Panthers a 54-24 lead. His 3-pointers ended an 11-2 run to open the second period that widened Milwaukee's 21-point halftime lead to 30 points.

Hanson made his third 3-pointer and Milwaukee's 10th of the game at the buzzer to end the first half and put the Panthers ahead 43-22.

A basket by Jon Goode gave the Titans an 11-10 lead. But Tucker had a ferocious dunk with 11:37 left to put the Panthers ahead for good in the game at 12-11 and he followed it with his third 3-pointer for a 15-11 advantage.

It was the final regular season game for seven Milwaukee seniors - Tigert, Mark Pancratz, Chris Hill, Tucker, Jason McCoy, Davis and Derrick Ford.

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Detroit-Louisville

Louisville 56, Detroit 48

 

At halftime of Louisville's game against Detroit, a video of the Cardinals players singing a particularly cringe-inducing version of the ``The Twelve Days of Christmas'' ran on the Freedom Hall scoreboard.

It was the only really good laugh the Cardinals enjoyed during their 56-48 victory Saturday.

Though the Cardinals (9-1) won their 12th straight home game thanks to 15 points from Taquan Dean and 12 from Brandon Jenkins, it was hardly the kind of dominant buzzer-to-buzzer performance coach Rick Pitino said his team needs to compete in the Big East.

``I'm not pleased with our improvement,'' Pitino said. ``All of our guys are having a difficult time playing for 40 minutes.''

The Cardinals only really needed 11 solid minutes at the end of the first half and a 16-5 advantage at the free-throw line to beat the Titans (6-7), who were led by Brandon Cotton's 17 points.

Louisville won despite shooting just 27 percent from the floor in the second half and failing to use their size advantage inside. Detroit outscored the Cardinals 20-12 in the paint and matched Louisville's 29 rebounds. The Titans could have pulled the upset if not for 16 turnovers.

``We were our own worst enemy at times,'' Detroit coach Perry Watson said. ``We put ourselves in position to win but put them on the line too much.''

The free throws were the only real offense the Cardinals could muster in the second half, when poor shot selection and almost zero ball movement gave Pitino flashbacks of a 12-point loss at Kentucky on Dec. 17.

``At times in the second half we reverted back to what we did against Kentucky, that was playing too much one-on-one,'' Pitino said. ``We're not a great one-on-one basketball team, we've got do to it with passing, screening and rebounding.''

Or, as the Cardinals did in the second half against the Titans, with defense. For all their offensive struggles, the Cardinals kept the Titans from getting close enough to make it scary. Detroit never made it a one-possession game, though they did cut it to five with 38 seconds left.

Louisville's Brad Gianiny made four straight free throws to fend off the Titans, but the Cardinals hardly expected to be in a position where they would need free throws in the final minute.

``It seems like every time we have a chance to blow people out we miss a couple of easy shots,'' center David Padgett said. ``Our defense was OK but our offense broke down way too early. The second half we kind of stood around a lot.''

Detroit did its best to slow the game down, running 25-30 seconds off the shot clock before putting the ball in the air.

The slow tempo frustrated the Cardinals, who seemed to get antsy when they couldn't get out on the break.

Detroit held Louisville to six points over the game's first nine minutes before the Cardinals responded behind the presses and traps that have become as much a part of Pitino's legacy as his fashionable wardrobe.

With Jenkins and guard Andre McGee at the top of the press, the Cardinals put together a 13-3 run to take a 20-13 lead. After the Titans climbed back within 23-20, Dean momentarily broke out of his recent shooting slump.

The senior scored Louisville's last 11 points of the half, including three 3-pointers. It seemed to be the confidence boost he needed after shooting just 27 percent from the floor over his three previous games.

But the touch left him in the second half. He went scoreless in the final 20 minutes, missing all four shots before leaving the game in the final minute with leg cramps.

	Detroit Titans - Louisville Cardinals Goals Total 1 2 3 OT Shootout Detroit Titans 48 Louisville Cardinals 56

N. Illinois 62, Wright St. 42 DE KALB, Ill. (AP) - Mike McKinney had 12 points and four rebounds to lead Northern Illinois past Wright State 62-42 on Tuesday night. Cory Sims added 11 points and grabbed three rebounds as the Huskies moved to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference. Wright State (1-5, 1-0) kept it close for a while, heading into halftime down just two, 24-22. Drew Burleson, with 17 points, was the only Raiders player to score in double figures. Jordan Pleiman pulled down nine rebounds.     Wright St. Raiders - N. Illinois Huskies Goals Total 1 2 3 OT Shootout Wright St. Raiders 42 N. Illinois Huskies 62