PEORIA, Ill. --
Bradley senior guard
J.J. Tauai (Verona, Mo./Verona H.S.) turned in career-highs with 21 points and eight rebounds, leading the Braves (2-0) to a 74-58 men's college basketball victory versus NCAA Division II Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (0-1) Wednesday night at Carver Arena.
Bradley was playing without junior point guard Daniel Ruffin, a preseason candidate for the Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford and the Missouri Valley Conference active career assists leader, who is listed as day-to-day with a hip injury. Known more for his defensive skill throughout his career, Tauai's asserted himself on the offensive end to pick up his team.
SIU-Edwardsville, which was coming off a 54-50 exhibition victory at Nebraska Saturday night, jumped out to a 12-4 lead to start the game, but the Braves answered with a 15-0 run to take the lead and outscored the Cougars 40-13 over the final 15:16 of the first half. Junior forward Matt Salley started the run with a turnaround jumper on the baseline, and after a Tauai layup, a non-traditional 4-point play pulled the Braves even. Senior guard Will Franklin made the first of two free throws to pull Bradley within 12-9, but missed his second attempt. Bradley batted the rebound out and senior guard Danny Adams buried a 3-pointer for the 12-12 tie. Tauai put Bradley on top with another trey and the Braves never looked back.
Franklin, who handled the majority of the point guard duties in Ruffin's absence, turned in a solid all-around game with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Junior guard Jeremy Crouch added 12 points, four assists and three steals and senior center Zach Andrews just missed out on a second straight double-double with eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Senior forward Mike Hardiek led SIU-Edwardsville with 13 points and seven rebounds. The Cougars also got 11 points from sophomore forward Nick Arth and 10 from guard senior guard Ty Johnson.
Bradley's lead grew to double-digits, 30-19, on a Salley layup with 6:49 left in the half and the bulge hit 21 points, 44-23, on a Zach Andrews putback with 3:10 remaining. Andrews also gave the Braves a game-high 25-point advantage, 70-45, with another putback with 7:10 left in the game.
After shooting 56.3 percent from the field and making a home game school-record 13 3-pointers in Saturday's 78-58 victory versus DePaul, Bradley hit only 41.3 percent (26-63) of their field goal attempts Wednesday, including just 6-of-17 (.353) 3-point tries. The Braves were much more effective on the glass, however, finishing with 16 offensive rebounds and a 43-38 overall rebounding advantage. Bradley also forced SIU-Edwardsville into 17 turnovers and outscored the guests 24-4 in transition.
Bradley will continue its season-long four-game homestand Sunday at 2:05 p.m. by hosting Illinois-Chicago at Carver Arena in the first round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. The Braves will host Florida A&M in the second round Tuesday night, before heading to the new Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., for a third-round game Nov. 25 against Rutgers and a final round matchup versus either Miami-Ohio or Illinois Nov. 26.
Sunday's game against the Flames, surprisingly, will be just the second meeting in the all-time series. Bradley won the first meeting, 99-48, Nov. 29, 1980 at Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. Single-game tickets for Bradley home games range from $8 to $18, based on location, and Bradley faculty and staff may purchase tickets at half-price. Fans are encouraged to continue to wear red for the remainder of Bradley's home schedule and to bring their Sweet 16 rally towels.
