Dia scores 22 in Belmont's 86-61 victory over Valparaiso in Missouri Valley Conference Tournament

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Malik Dia scored 22 points in fifth-seeded Belmont's 86-61 victory against 12th-seeded Valparaiso on Thursday night in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Belmont will face fourth-seeded Northern Iowa in Friday's quarterfinals.

Dia also added 10 rebounds for the Bruins (20-12). Brigham Rogers added 15 points while going 6 of 7 and 3 of 7 from the free-throw line while they also had three steals. Ja'Kobi Gillespie went 4 of 6 from the field (2 for 3 from 3-point range) to finish with 10 points.

Isaiah Stafford led the Beacons (7-25) in scoring, finishing with 20 points and four steals. Cooper Schwieger added 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks for Valparaiso. Jerome Palm also had 10 points and 14 rebounds. The loss was the Beacons' 12th in a row.

Belmont led 48-22 at halftime, with Dia racking up 14 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.