PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley led for almost 38 minutes to open the game, but Jackie Carmichael's put-back basket with 52.9 seconds remaining proved to be the difference as Illinois State rallied for a 62-61 victory against the Braves Wednesday at Carver Arena. The Redbirds moved into tie with Creighton for third-place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, while the loss dropped Bradley (12-12, 7-7 MVC) into fifth place.
Playing in front of an announced crowd of 11,281, the fifth-largest crowd in the history of the Interstate 74 Rivalry, Illinois State (17-8, 8-6 MVC) spoiled Bradley's first-ever "Blackout" event, snapped a seven-game road losing streak to the Braves and swept the regular-season series for the first time since the 2001-02 season. In addition to distributing black Bradley Basketball t-shirts to the crowd, the host Braves wore black uniforms for the first time in program history.
Bradley (12-12 overall, 7-7 MVC) made 4-of-5 shots to open the game and jumped out to an early 9-0 lead. Illinois State fought back and trailed 18-16 at the nine-minute mark before Braves junior Andrew Warren (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit) scored all nine of his first-half points and dished out an assist to highlight a 14-2 Braves run which put the home team ahead 32-18 with 2:51 left before the half. The Redbirds ended the period with a 7-3 spurt and Bradley settled for a 35-25 lead at the intermission.
Illinois State continued the hot shooting to open the second half, scoring 10 of the first 12 points to pull to within two points, 37-35, less than three minutes into the period. Bradley junior Sam Maniscalco (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) ended the ISU run with a three-point play at 16:07 to spark a 12-2 Bradley spurt over the next four minutes as the Braves pushed their advantage back to double digits, 49-37, with 12:10 to play.
Bradley led 54-43 after a Taylor Brown (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody H.S.) jumper with 9:15 remaining, but the Redbirds countered with an 11-0 run to pull even, 54-54, on a Dinma Odiakosa free throw with 4:52.
After an exchange of two made free throws by Bradley's Dyricus Simms-Edwards and Odiakosa, Illinois State took its first lead of the night, 58-56, with 2:12 to play when Odiakosa banked in a high-arching shot in the lane. Maniscalco forced a third tie with a tough, driving layup, then after Redbird freshman Austin Hill scored on an up-and-under move, Maniscalco gave the Braves their last lead, 61-60, by draining a 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining.
On Illinois State's ensuing possession, Carmichael needed three tries to give the Redbirds the lead for good, twice rebounding his own misses before scoring the game-winner with 52.9 seconds left.
The Braves came up empty on their next possession, but had a chance to go back in front when Carmichael missed the front end of a one-and-one with 18.2 ticks left. Bradley failed to score on its following possession and Illinois State missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.0 seconds to play, but the Braves were unable to get a desperation heave off before the buzzer.
Maniscalco paced Bradley in scoring with a game-high 17 points, Brown added 13 points. Bradley shot 51.7 percent in the opening half, but cooled off to 35.7 percent in the second half.
Illinois State outrebounded Bradley 41-32, with Odiakosa snagging a career-high 15 boards to go along with 12 points. Austin Hill matched a career-high with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting off the bench and Carmichael added 12 points on 6-of-10 from the field.
Bradley returns to action Saturday when the Braves play host to league-leading and 18th-ranked Northern Iowa at 1:05 p.m. at Carver Arena. Saturday's game will be televised on the Missouri Valley Conference network: Fox Sports Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City and Metro Sports.
