PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley sophomore center Will Egolf (Juneau, Alaska/Douglas H.S.) scored on a pair of putbacks on Bradley's last two possessions, including the game-winner with 1.8 seconds remaining, lifting the Braves (11-11, 6-6 MVC) to a 67-65 Missouri Valley Conference home victory versus Drake (11-13, 6-6 MVC) Tuesday night at Carver Arena.
Egolf's acrobatics overshadowed the performance of Bradley junior guard Sam Maniscalco (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick H.S.), who made a career-best nine field goals in a game-high 21-point scoring effort and became the 43rd player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points. Playing in his 96th career game, Maniscalco now has scored 1,014 career points.
After Maniscalco went over the 1,000-point mark by burying a pair of 3-pointers in the 1:19 of the first half to start and end an 8-0 Braves run that gave the hosts a 42-35 lead at the break, Drake never regained the lead in the second half. But the Bulldogs did threaten down the stretch.
With Bradley milking a 63-62 lead as the clock dipped under 1-minute remaining, Maniscalco worked the clock down then launched a 3-pointer from the top of the key that caromed off the the left side of the rim. Egolf swooped over the Drake rebounders for an acrobatic tip for a 65-62 advantage with 32.2 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs were undeterred, however, and knotted the game at 65-65 when forward Adam Templeton drained a corner 3-pointer with 18.6 seconds remaining.
Bradley elected not to take a time out and Maniscalco again worked the clock down. This time he fired up a shot from just inside the 3-point arc at the top of the key. The ball again caromed off to the left and from just outside the lane, Egolf came in from the baseline and was able to snare the long rebound over Drake's 6-foot-10 freshman center Seth VanDeest. Egolf immediately went back up for a fadeaway over VanDeest and fell to the floor as the ball splashed through the net.
The Bulldogs did manage to get the ball to halfcourt, but Ryan Wedel's desperation attempt from the midcourt sideline hit off the backboard to end the fourth nailbiter in the last six games between the two Valley rivals.
During the 2006-07 season, Drake escaped Carver Arena with a 69-68 victory on a Adam Emmenecker third-try putback at the buzzer, only to see the Braves answer with a Jeremy Crouch game-winner in the closing seconds of a 72-71 Bradley victory in Des Moines. In last year's regular-season finale at Carver Arena, Bradley hung on for a 77-75 win in double overtime versus the Bulldogs when Jonathan Cox was unable to convert a running 12-footer at the final buzzer.
Sophomore forward Taylor Brown was Bradley's only other double-digit scorer, complementing Maniscalco's effort with 14 points and eight rebounds. Drake was led by senior guard Josh Young's 19 points and Templeton's double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Wedel added 15 points, all in the game's first 11-minutes, 48-seconds.
Bradley sixth-year senior Sam Singh hauled down a career-best nine rebounds to help Bradley to a 39-29 rebounding advantage. Drake came into the game leading The Valley and ranked 17th nationally by averaging 8.6 treys per game, but the Bulldogs managed to make just 5-of-26 (.192) attempts from behind the arc, while the Braves were a more efficient 7-for-16 (.438) from 3-point range.
Bradley returns to action Saturday with a 4:05 p.m. game at Evansville which will be televised by the Missouri Valley Conference on Fox Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
