EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Colt Ryan scored 25 of his game-high 39 points in the first half, leading Evansville (9-9, 4-4 MVC) to a 90-67 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball victory versus visiting Bradley (6-14, 1-7 MVC) Wednesday night at Ford Center.
When Bradley point guard Walt Lemon Jr. was forced to the bench with three fouls, the third on a technical for arguing the second, with 9:44 left in the first half, Ryan stepped to the line to make both free throws, stretching the Evansville lead to nine points, 22-13.
The Braves appeared to stem the tide and pulled to within 27-21 when Taylor Brown sank four free throws on the same possession with 6:20 remaining in the half after a Troy Taylor personal and technical foul combo of his own. But Ryan catapulted the Aces into a 17-0 run in a span of just 3-minutes, 16-seconds, scoring 12 points in the outburst as Evansville blasted out to a 44-21 lead.
Brown ended the run with three more free throws with 1:34 left in the half, but the Braves missed their final eight field goal attempts of the half and committed 12 first-half turnovers as Evansville took a 46-24 lead into the break. While the Braves were 6-for-23 (.261) from the field in the opening frame, the Aces knocked down more 3-pointers (7) than Bradley's total field goals as part of an overall 16-for-35 (.457) shooting effort in the first half.
Brown collected his second, third and fourth fouls in a span of 52 seconds early in the second half, forcing Bradley's leading scorer to the bench with 16:42 left in the game and the Braves facing a 58-28 deficit. The deficit remained in the 30-point range for most of the rest of the second half.
The Bradley trio of Brown, Dyricus Simms-Edwards and Lemon Jr. came into the game as The Valley's top scoring trio by combining to average 41.5 points per game, but the trio combined for just 25 points on collective 5-for-15 shooting from the field. Reserve wing player Jake Eastman buried 4-of-8 3-pointers to score a team-high 16 points for the Braves.
Bradley will return home to host defending MVC regular-season champion Missouri State in a 7 p.m. game Saturday at Carver Arena. The game against the Bears will be the featured event in Bradley University's Alumni Weekend.
