PEORIA, Ill. -- Jarmar Gulley scored seven of his career-best 26 points in the final 1:01, lifting Missouri State (12-3, 2-1 MVC) to a 68-65 Missouri Valley Conference road win at Bradley (6-10, 1-2 MVC) Wednesday night at Carver Arena.
Bradley guard Walt Lemon Jr., who hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer in Bradley's 66-63 home win against the Bears last season at Carver Arena, led the Braves with 25 points, but Missouri State bottled up the high-scoring guard on the final possession. Lemon's desperation heave from the right sideline over a double-team bounced off the iron as the final horn sounded.
Bradley stormed out to a 23-11 lead with 8:59 left in the first half, but Lemon went to the bench after committing a pair of turnovers on either end of a Nathan Scheer free throw. The home team's offense stagnated at that point and the Braves found themselves trailing 28-27 at the half.
The second half saw five ties and eight lead changes before the Bears took the lead for good, 54-52, on a Gulley layup with 7:01 left. Two Tyshon Pickett free throws cut Bradley's deficit to 64-61 with 40 seconds remaining and the Braves forced a loose ball under their own basket on the inbounds play. Unable to creat the tie-up, the ball ended up shooting out of bounds on the left side and a replay review kept the ball in Missouri State's possession. Gulley broke loose on the ensuing inbounds play and converted an old-fashioned 3-point play for a 67-61 lead with 32 seconds remaining.
Two Lemon free throws and a transition layup after Scheer missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity got the Braves within 67-65 with 20 seconds left. Gulley split two free throws with 17 seconds remaining, setting up Bradley's final possession, but the Bears twice executed hard traps on Lemon and the Braves were unable to find a good look as the clock ticked down.
Missouri State guard Marcus Marshall scored 20 points, combining with Gulley for 46 of the visiting team's 28 points. In addition to Lemon, the Braves got double-digit scoring efforts from Pickett (12 points and 13 rebounds), Omari Grier (10 points) and Ka'Darryl Bell (10).
After a 5-for-15 shooting start, Missouri State made 18 of its final 30 field goal attempts and finished the game at 51.1 percent from the field, including 10-of-23 (.435) from 3-point range.
The Braves will hit the road for their next two games against the top two teams in The Valley's preseason poll: Saturday at Indiana State and Tuesday at #6 Wichita State. Both games will be televised in Central Illinois on WAOE (My59).
