ST. LOUIS (AP) - Bradley sophomore guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds, career highs in both categories, to lead Bradley to a 63-48 win versus Drake in the opening round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Thursday night at the Scottrade Center.
Andrew Warren added 15 points for 10th-seeded Bradley (12-19), which will face No. 2 seed Wichita State (23-7) in a quarterfinal game Friday night (6:05 p.m.).
Rayvonte Rice led seventh-seeded Drake (13-18) with 13 points. Ryan Wedel added 11 points, and Kraidon Woods had 13 rebounds.
Simms-Edwards, who hit 11 of 18 shots, has scored at least 15 points in each of his last six games. He teamed with Warren to score 27 points in the game's final 16:27 after Drake took a 35-31 lead.
The play of Bradley's backcourt duo helped offset the loss of Braves redshirt freshman forward Jordan Prosser, who suffered a dislocated left kneecap with 14:22 remaining. After Prosser was helped from the court, senior guard Dodie Dunson drained a 3-pointer to give the Braves a lasting lead, 37-35, before Warren (10) and Simms-Edwards (14) combined for Bradley's next 24 points.
In addition to Simms-Edwards' career game, Bradley received a combined 13 first-half points from reserves Jake Eastman (7) and Milos Knezevic (6), then junior forward Anthony Thompson put up six rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist in eight second-half minutes.
