SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Bradley sophomore guard Andrew Warren (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) scored a team-high 20 points, but host Missouri State (8-6, 1-1) countered with a pair of 20-point scorers and rallied for a 91-80 Missouri Valley Conference home victory against the short-handed Braves (7-7, 0-2) Wednesday night at the John Q. Hammons Center.
Missouri State senior forward Deven Mitchell scored a game-high 25 points and senior guard Spencer Laurie chipped in with 20 points off the bench to lead the Bears back from a 15-point first-half deficit. Dale Lamberth added a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Bears, while Drew Richards contributed 10 points. Bradley freshman point guard Sam Maniscalco (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick H.S.) turned in his best game as a Brave with career-highs of 16 points and seven assists. Senior guard Jeremy Crouch added 13 points and junior forward Theron Wilson scored 10 to complete the double-digit scoring. Senior center Matt Salley pulled down a team-high 11 boards for the Braves.
Playing its second straight game without injured point guard Daniel Ruffin, Bradley dropped its fourth in a row, despite a hot start to the game. After scoring a Carver Arena record low nine points in the first half of Saturday's 59-46 loss to UNI, Bradley hit double-digits just 1-minute, 48-seconds into Wednesday's game en route to a 13-0 lead to start the contest. The Braves then built their advantage to a game-high 15 points, 21-6, when Crouch hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 12:21 left in the half.
Missouri State worked its way back into the game by pounding the offensive glass, however, outscoring Bradley 12-4 in second-chance points in the period to close the gap to 45-41 at the break.
Bradley started the second half in a scoring race against the Bears as the hosts used a 22-21 edge in the first 7-minutes, 53-seconds of the second half to trim its deficit to 66-63. The opening stretch of the second half was capped by a 3-point shootout between Laurie and Maniscalco, who combined to make five consecutive 3-pointers in a span of just 1:40. Laurie's third trey of the exchange pulled MSU to within 66-63 wiht 12:07 left.
But the Braves went cold the rest of the way, however, and Missouri State used a 22-5 run to take control of the game. Mitchell scored 10 points during the game-changing run, the last two on free throws with 4:10 remaining to give Missouri State an 82-71 lead. Maniscalco answered with two free throws of his own, then countered Laurie's sixth trey of the night with his fourth 3-pointer to get the Braves within 85-76 with 3:10 left, but Mitchell all but sealed the Bears scored the next six points to put the game away.
After shooting 55.2 percent (16-29) from the floor in the first half, Bradley made just 8-of-29 (.276) attempts in the final 20 minutes. Bradley finished the game 13-for-31 (.419) from 3-point range, but the Braves managed to make just 2-of-10 (.200) shots from inside the arc in the second half and wound up at 41.4 percent (24-58) overall from the floor. Missouri State recovered from its slow start from the floor by shooting 46.4 percent (32-69) and grabbed the offensive rebound on 18 of its 37 misses on the way to a 23-7 advantage in second-chance points. The Bears finished with a 43-33 overall rebounding advantage.
The Braves will return home for one game, Saturday night versus Valley rival Wichita State (7-6, 0-2). Saturday's game will tip at 7:05 p.m. and a limited number of tickets ($8-18) remain and may be purchased in person at the Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse Box Office, the Carver Arena Box Office or online at www.bubraves.com.
