PEORIA, Ill. -- Missouri State (11-3, 2-1) crashed the boards hard and outscored host Bradley (10-5, 1-2) 30-9 at the free throw line, a combination that carried the visiting Bears to an 86-78 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball road victory in front of 9,050 fans Tuesday night at Carver Arena.
Missouri State put five players in double-figures, led by Blake Ahearn, Spencer Laurie and Drew Richards, who all shared team-high honors with 16 points. Laurie and Richards both finished with career scoring highs. Nathan Bilyeu, who grabbed one of the biggest rebounds of the game, followed with 13 points and Deven Mitchell came off the bench to add 10 for the Bears. Playing without injured scoring leader Jeremy Crouch, Bradley put featured four double-digit scorers. Starting in place of Crouch, senior guard Danny Adams (Metamora, Ill./Metamora H.S.) scored a game-high 18 points. Will Franklin added 16 points, followed by Zach Andrews with 15 and reserve forward Matt Salley with 11.
Bradley came into the game leading the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.471) and ranked second with 11.4 3-pointers per game, but the Braves needed a school-record 35 attempts from behind the arc to bury their 12 treys Tuesday. Adams did half of that damage, sinking 6-of-13, including 5-of-10 in the second half.
Missouri State countered by outrebounding the Braves 46-21 and sinking 26-of-30 (.867) free throw attempts. Both areas played a role in the back-breaking play for Bradley. Trying to rally one last time from an 80-76 deficit in the final 2:49, Bradley closed to within 80-78 on a Franklin layup at the end of the shot clock with 2:11 remaining.
Bradley forced a missed Mitchell shot on the next MSU possession, but Bilyeu grabbed the offensive rebound, allowing the Bears to run more clock before Laurie committed a turnover with 1:20 remaining. After Franklin missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:08 left, Missouri State again worked the clock down before settling for a Bilyeu 3-point try from the top of the key with 31 seconds to go. The shot caromed long off the back iron and Bilyeu beat Bradley's J.J. Tauai to the loose ball. With both players diving for the rebound, Tauai was called for a foul and Bilyeu made both free throws for an 82-78 advantage. Adams misfired on a 3-pointer from the corner and Bilyeu got a breakout dunk to all but ice the game.
After seeing its league-best 15-game overall and six-game Valley home winning streaks come to an end, Bradley will have little time to recover. The Braves will play four of their next five games on the road, beginning with a quick two-game swing this week to Wichita State Thursday night and Drake Saturday night. Bradley will host Southern Illinois Jan. 10, before returning to the road for games Jan. 13 at Indiana State and Jan. 18 at Creighton.
