SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Bradley once again rallied from a sizeable second-half deficit, but the Braves (4-1) could not sustain the rally, suffering their first loss of the season Sunday evening to TCU (4-1), 74-68, in their final game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic at the MassMutual Center.
Bradley senior guard Andrew Warren posted his first career double-double by pairing a game-high 24 points with a career-best 10 rebounds. Three more Bradley guards - Dodie Dunson, Walt Lemon Jr. and Sam Maniscalco - each scored 10 points. The Horned Frogs were led by reserve guard Sammy Yeager's 19 points, as well as 16 points from Ronnie Moss. Nikola Gacesa added 11 points and point guard Hank Thorns also had a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.
Bradley appeared to take momentum into halftime when Maniscalco banked in a 40-footer at the buzzer to pull the Braves within 32-31, but TCU opened up a game-high eight-point lead, 48-40, when Gacesa acored inside with 12:23 remaining.
Warren shot the Braves back into the game by scoring Bradley's next 12 points, three times narrowing the deficit to one during his outburst. Dunson gave the Braves a 54-53 lead by sinking a pair of free throws with 7:13 left and it appeared Bradley may start to pull away after Warren sank two more free throws for a 60-56 advantange with 4:44 left.
Moss scored the game's next six points, though, and the Braves did not score again until center Will Egolf sank a pair of charity shots with 1:48 remaining to forge a 62-62 tie.
Thorns gave TCU the lead for good, 65-62, by swishing a 3-pointer with 1:22 left and the Braves missed three shots on the ensuing possession, forcing them to foul. The Horned Frogs made 9-of-10 free throw attempts in the final 39 seconds to close out the win.
Bradley's defense had held each of the first four opponents to no more than 63 points and was forcing better than 20 turnovers per game, but the Horned Frogs scored 42 second-half points on 54.2 percent shooting from the field and committed only 13 turnovers. The Braves did outrebound the bigger TCU squad, 36-26.
After playing four games in six days, Bradley will have two days to prepare for its next game, a Wednesday match-up against Eastern Illinois in a 7:05 p.m. tip at Carver Arena.
