(Travis Grayson pictured in December at the Noblesville Holiday Tournament)

Behind 40 points from senior Travis Grayson, No. 1 Chesterton (20-0) beat No. 7 Valparaiso (18-3) in overtime.

Chesterton’s gym holds 4,886, and there were not many open seats as the Trojans made a couple of more plays to beat the Vikings, 60-57.

From start to finish, Grayson was the story for Chesterton. He scored the first five points of the game for Chesterton. Actually, Grayson was the only Trojan to score in the opening period and did not slow down much the rest of the way.

Valpo grabbed an early 5-0 lead as Breece Walls set up Connor McCall twice – once for a layup and another time for a triple. Walls flew around the floor for Valpo in the first quarter. He recorded two points, two rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the opening period. Plus, he nearly hit a halfcourt shot to end the quarter.

Valparaiso led 10-5 after one, but Owen Guest took a pass from Grayson to hit a three-point early in the second to tie the game at ten. However, the Vikings answered back with a 7-0 run as Walls played a significant role.

In the first half, turnovers plagued both sides, but Valpo converted steals into points at a slightly higher rate than Chesterton. That helped the Vikings to a 21-18 halftime lead. Valpo held a one to two-possession lead for most of the first half, but it never reached three possessions.

On the first possession of the second half, Chesterton’s Chris Mullen created a foul and went to the line. He made the first and missed the second, but Guest grabbed an offensive rebound before Grayson scored going to the basket to tie the game.

Junior forward Mason Jones led Valpo with six first-half points, and he hit a kick-out three-pointer early in the second half to push the Vikings back ahead. However, Jones played his best in the fourth quarter and overtime.

A few minutes into the third quarter, Grayson found Justin Sims for a bucket in the lane to give Chesterton its first lead of the game. Nonetheless, the Trojan advantage only stood for seconds as Blaine Dalton buried a three to give Valpo the lead back.

The third quarter is when Grayson began dominating the action in all phases. He scored 12 of Chesterton’s 15 third-quarter points. His defense, passing, and scoring sustained the Trojans throughout the period.

Michael Flynn nailed a three-pointer near the end of the third quarter to tie the game. Then, Jones scored twice to open the fourth before Walls stole an in-bound pass and scored. A minute later, Jones scored again to give Valpo a 41-34 lead.

Grayson scored the following seven points for Chesterton, but Valpo still led 45-41 with 2:45 left in the game. Sims made two free throws to pull Chesterton within two points before Jones hit a 17-footer from the left side.

Every time Valpo found itself in trouble, Jones seemed to hit a shot for the Vikings. He scored ten points in the fourth quarter, and most of them were pull-up shots from 15-17 feet.

Sims scored by putting back his miss to make it a two-point game. Then Guest stole the Vikings’ inbound pass before finding Grayson cutting to the basket to tie the game with under 90 seconds left.

With the contest tied, Walls drew a Chesterton foul. He made both free throws and then Walls made a defensive play to come up with a loose ball. Again, he was fouled, but this time Walls missed the front-end of the bonus.

Grayson could not finish for Chesterton, and Valpo ran out in transition, but a lob was off the mark, giving the Trojans the ball back.

Trailing by two, Grayson drew a foul on Walls. The fifth foul on Walls sent Grayson to the line for two free throws. All night, the Chesterton senior sank free throw after free throw, and Grayson made two foul shots to tie the game.

Valpo melted the clock down to the final seconds before Jones took a stepback three-pointer. The attempt missed wide to the left, but the carom hit Chesterton. The Vikings had the ball out of bounds under the basket with 1.6 seconds.

Dalton cut to the corner for a three, but Grayson blocked the shot to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Chesterton drew first blood with two Mullen free throws. Valpo turned to Jones, and he delivered again. This time it was an isolation before a pull-up from 17 feet.

Adler Hazlett created a steal for Valpo before Jones hit a deep two-pointer. His foot was barely inside the arc to give the Vikings a two-point lead.

Fifteen seconds later, Grayson drilled a three-pointer from just left of the top of the key. The lead seesawed back to Valpo when Jones grabbed a Hazlett miss and scored.

With just over a minute to play, Guest missed a corner three for Chesterton but chased down the miss. Then, Dalton fouled Grayson. He drained two more free throws to swing the lead back to Chesterton.

Grayson was not done. As Jones looked to penetrate, Grayson came from the backside to create a steal. He split the foul shots this time, but Valpo came up empty again, and Sims grabbed a rebound for Chesterton with 11.5 seconds left in overtime.

Sims made the first free-throw attempt before missing the second. On the rebound, Chesterton fouled Jones. Without any time coming off the clock, Jones made two freebies to make it a one-point game again.

Valpo nearly created a turnover after the Jones makes. The Trojans tried to inbound the ball in tight quarters, but Valpo was the last to touch the inbound pass. Mullen flashed to the sideline on the second try before finding a streaking Grayson. He was fouled before going up for a layup.

Grayson converted two more free throws. He went 20-22 from the foul line for the game, and Chesterton made 27-34 compared to 11-16 for Valpo.

Jones tried a desperation three, but it would have been after the buzzer.

Grayson led all scorers with 40 points. He was 7-13 from two-point range and 2-2 from beyond the arc. He also collected six rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Sims finished with ten points, nine rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Mullen added five points and seven rebounds, while Guest tallied three points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Jones scored 28 points to lead Valpo. He also grabbed nine rebounds. Before fouling out, walls finished with ten points, six assists, five steals, and four rebounds. Flynn added six points, and Dalton tallied five points and two steals. McCall contributed five points, three rebounds, and two steals.

Chesterton moves to 21-0 and plays at Boone Grove on Saturday night. Valpo drops to 18-4 and does not play again until next weekend.