EVANSVILLE, Ind. ? Evansville's three seniors ? Jason Holsinger (19), Shy Ely (14) and Nate Garner (9) ? combined for 42 points in the final regular-season home games of their careers, leading the Purple Aces (17-11, 8-9 MVC) to a 56-49 victory against Bradley (16-13, 9-8 MVC) Wednesday night at Roberts Stadium. Bradley had won its last three games and the Braves were riding a seven-game winning streak against Evansville.
Senior center David Collins was Bradley's only double-digit scorer with 10 points and the 7-footer also led the Braves in rebounds (10), blocked shots (5) and assists (4) in his 28 minutes. His scoring effort ended a 79-game streak in which no player taller than 6-foot-5 had led the team in scoring. The combination of senior forward Theron Wilson, sophomore guard Sam Maniscalco and junior guard Dodie Dunson came into the game with a combined scoring average of 37.1 points per game, but totaled just 17 points Wednesday. The team's leading scorer and rebounder, Wilson was saddled with early foul trouble and finished with just six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.
While Collins made five of his eight field goal attempts, the eight other Bradley players to see action combined to make just 13-of-45 (.289) field goal attempts. The Braves, who downed Evansville 86-79 Feb. 14 in Peoria, came into the game averaging 81.0 ppg in the last three games, but finished with a season-low 49 points on 34.0 percent shooting. Bradley made 30-of-37 free throw attempts in the first meeting against the Aces, but hit just 7-of-11 attempts Wednesday. The Purple Aces made 15-of-24 free throw attempts and turned 16 Bradley turnovers into a 19-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
Despite its offensive struggles, the Braves battled back from a 30-20 halftime deficit and pulled to within 48-46 when Wilson drained a 3-pointer with 3:06 remaining. Evansville's James Haarsma answered with an interior bucket with 2:46 left and Ely sank two free throws with 2:11 remaining to stretch the advantage back to six points, 52-46. Wilson splite a pair of free throws with 1:57 left, but the Braves rebounded the second miss and Chris Roberts made two free throws later in the position to slice the deficit to 52-49 with 1:49 remaining. After Collins blocked a shot, Maniscalco was called for a foul in the scrum for the loose ball. Garner sank the resulting free throws to once again give Evansville a two-possession lead, 54-49, and the Braves were unable to score again.
With a spot in the 4/5 quarterfinal game in next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament secured, Bradley will host Drake Saturday night in the regular-season finale. The game against the Bulldogs will be the final regular-season home game for a quartet of Bradley seniors ? Collins, Brian Lavin, Sam Singh and Wilson ? and they will be honored in both pre- and post-game ceremonies. Saturday's game is officially sold out, however, the Boy Scouts are expected to have a limited number of tickets available for purchase in the Carver Arena box office lobby Saturday night. A limited number of student tickets also have yet to be claimed and may be made available to the public Saturday evening.
