Bradley BRAD 7-4, 1-1 MVC

Northern Iowa UNI 3-8, 2-4 MVC

Bradley BRAD

7-4, 1-1 MVC

Final

Jan. 11, 2021

Northern Iowa UNI

3-8, 2-4 MVC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Bradley BRAD	33	42	75
Northern Iowa UNI	33	40	73

Box Score

Braves Earn Road Victory at Northern Iowa

Box Score (PDF)

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 1/11/2021 10:38:00 PM

Cedar Falls, Iowa – The Bradley men's basketball team earned its first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season, responding with a 75-73 victory at Northern Iowa on Monday night. The Braves improve to 7-4 on the season and 1-1 in Valley play, while the Panthers drop to 3-8 and 2-4 against league foes.

Senior Elijah Childs and junior Ja'Shon Henry led the Braves with 16 points apiece. Henry tallied 12 of his 16 after the halftime break to lead the Braves to the victory in the second half. Childs also collected a team-leading eight rebounds on the night.

Two additional Braves scored in double figures with redshirt freshman Rienk Mast eclipsing 10 points for the second-straight game with 13, while junior Terry Nolan Jr. added 10 points.

Sophomore Sean East II paced the Bradley attack with four assists.

For the second-straight day, the teams battled in a back-and-forth contest where neither team led by more than three points during the first 20 minutes of action. Fittingly, the schools headed into the locker room tied at 33.

The second half featured runs by both teams, starting right from the start with Northern Iowa tallying the first eight points of the period for a 41-33 lead. The advantage didn't last long, however, as Bradley answered with eight-straight points of its own to quickly square the contest at 41.

Bradley then took control of the game midway through the period. Trailing by four, 47-43, with 13 minutes remaining, the Braves used a 19-7 stretch over a six-minute timeframe to take an eight-point lead, 62-54. Bradley made 8-of-10 field goals during the stretch, while forcing Northern Iowa into four turnovers, in building the largest lead of the game. Mast led BU with nine points during the game-defining run, connecting on a trio of 3-pointers.

The Panthers did not go away quietly and fought back. Northern Iowa cut its deficit to two points, 64-62, with just over four minutes remaining but Nolan answered with a 3-pointer on BU's next possession to push the lead back to five, 67-62. The Panthers then slowly brought it back to a single possession with under a minute remaining. Bradley hit its final six free throws of the game to maintain its advantage and then leading by three points in the closing seconds, the Braves elected to foul the Panthers and send them to the line with 3.4 seconds remaining. Northern Iowa made the first free throw and then had a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer after a missed second but the attempt was missed and Bradley earned the 75-73 win.

Bradley shot 50.9 percent in the winning effort, including 62.5 percent in the second 20 minutes of action. Northern Iowa, meanwhile, made 44.2 percent of its field goal attempts.

The Braves are back in action this weekend, hosting Evansville in a two-game series. The schools are set to open the series on Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena for a 3 p.m. tipoff.

Game Notes: Mast scored in double figures in both games – his first two collegiate starts – after one double-digit game during nine non-conference games … Bradley eclipsed 70 points in its first two conference games of the season for the first time since 1993-94 … Childs has scored in double figures in all 11 games this season – one of three players in the Valley to accomplish the feat in each of his team's games … Bradley's win was just its second at Northern Iowa since 2008 as the Panthers have won 13 of the last 15 against the Braves in Cedar Falls.

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