PEORIA, Ill. - Creighton benefitted from a cold start from the field by host Bradley (10-10, 5-5 MVC) and the visiting Bluejays (11-10, 6-4 MVC) held on for a 73-68 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball victory Wednesday night at Carver Arena. The loss snaps Bradley's 3-game winning streak and drops the Braves into a four-way tie for fourth in the league standings.
Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown led all players in scoring with 19 points and rebounding with a career-best-tying 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Junior guard Andrew Warren added 13 points, while junior guard Sam Maniscalco and sophomore center Will Egolf completed Bradley's double-digit scoring effort with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Creighton center Kenny Lawson, Jr. led four Bluejays in double-figures with 16 points. Absorbing most of the minutes for the suspended P'Allen Stinnett, Josh Jones added a career-best 13 points off the bench. Darryl Ashford contributed 12 points and Justin Carter scored 11.
The Braves missed 17 of their first 19 field goal attempts in the opening 13 minutes, but after allowing Creighton to lead by as many as 11 points on two occasions, Bradley closed to within two points at the half. Carter gave Creighton a 30-19 lead by burying jumper with 5:20 left in the half before Bradley freshman Dyricus Simms-Edwards answered with a driving basket to start a 17-8 Braves surge to close the half. Warren's 3-pointer with 36 seconds left in the half pulled Bradley to within 38-36 at the break.
Creighton, which made 12 3-point field goals, started the second half by making five of its first seven attempts from behind the arc and built its lead back up to eight points, 60-52, with 10:42 remaining. Bradley narrowed the deficit to one possession on four different occasions down the stretch, but could never get over the hump.
Maniscalco scored on a break to complete a 6-0 Bradley run to pull within 60-58 with 9:34 left, but Carter answered with a transition 3-pointer. Brown scored in the paint to get the Braves within 65-62 with 8:08 left and Creighton guard Antoine Young lost the ball out of bounds in front of the Bradley bench seconds later. Following the media timeout, Brown and center Will Egolf both missed jumpers that would have pulled the Braves to within one.
Maniscalco again got the Braves within two, 69-67, with 3:56 left, and after holding on the defensive end, Chris Roberts was fouled with 2:58 remaining. The senior guard made the first free throw, but missed the tying attempt. It appeared the Braves would finally take the lead when Bradley got a runout following a Young miss on the ensuing possession, but Warren's pass to Brown, who was filling the lane, was knocked away.
Creighton center Kenny Lawson, Jr. (6-for-6) completed a perfect individual night at the free throw line by making two charity shots with 2:03 left for a 71-68 Creighton lead. Bradley missed its last four field goal attempts, including game-tying 3-point tries by Roberts, Warren and Maniscalco inside the final 1:13 before Carter ultimately put the game away by scoring the game's final two points from the free throw line with six seconds left.
Bradley will return to action Saturday afternoon by visiting Interstate 74 rival Illinois State, which joins the Braves in the fourth-place pileup in the Valley standings. Saturday's 4:35 p.m. tip from Redbird Arena will be televised on the MVC-TV Network, which includes Fox Sports Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox College Sports and MetroSports in Kansas City. Bradley's next home game is Feb. 2 versus Drake and the 7:05 p.m. contest will be televised by local PBS affiliate WTVP on its secondary digital station, channel 47.2.
