Valparaiso Loses Keith Carter, Still Tops Youngstown State, 79-64

Stop me if you have heard or seen this before. A team with high expectations enters the conference regular season, and they suffer early disappointment caused by an injury to a key starter. In this case the team is Valparaiso University (14-3, 1-1) and the key starter is Keith Carter (9.4 ppg).

Keith Carter gained the starting point guard position for the Crusaders this season after Lexus Williams tore his ACL in an open gym session before the basketball season began.

During Sunday's matchup against Youngstown State, Keith Carter suffered what initially looked to be an ankle injury in the closing moments of the game, but now appears to be an injury to his big toe.

Valpo still cruised over the final four minutes to gain its first win of the young conference season, 79-64 over the Penguins.

Alec Peters got things started for the Crusaders scoring their first 10 points, and finishing the game with 18, just below his 19 per game average. Keith Carter earned himself a double-double before the injury, adding 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The Penguins never led during the game, but did keep the game interesting throughout by going on runs to bring the game within one possession multiple times. DJ Cole and Bobby Hain led the team in scoring with 13 points each.

The Crusaders grabbed a big edge on the boards, pulling down 20 more than Youngstown State, including 27 on the offensive end, the most that Valparaiso has scored in the last 25 years.

Youngstown State's next game will be Thursday, when it hosts Wright State. The Crusaders are back in action Thursday when they host UIC.