Edwardsville, Illinois. The Bradley Braves hung on to a 56-54 win over SIUE to collect their second true road win of the season.

1st Half
The SIUE Cougars would get off to a hot start as they mounted a 10-3 run to start the game. Bradley would answer with a Ville Tahvanainen three-pointer and a Connor Hickman layup to pull within 6 at the game's first media timeout but SIUE would still hold a slim advantage. The Braves would charge back over the next 4 minutes as they closed the gap to 2 points at a 15-13 margin. Turnovers were the name of the game as both teams combined for 12 giveaways and 9 total assists in the first 20 minutes. SIUE would find its rhythm from the field first shooting 61% on a 10-0 SIUE run. As the first half came to a close, both teams were struggling in the half-court offense. Bradley thrived above the rim as Darius Hannah would throw down a transition lob from Zek Montgomery and a tip dunk off a miss from Rienk Mast. At the end of the first half, SIUE led Bradley 33-25. Bradley finished at the break shooting 37% from the field and 23% from behind the three-point line. SIUE shot 54% from the field and 60% from three.

2nd Half
Both teams would open up the second half scoreless for the first two minutes until Bradley began a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to just one point at 33-32 at the first media stoppage. The Braves and Cougars would trade baskets in a back-and-forth affair until the final few moments. SIUE, down 3 with 19 seconds left, drove hard the length of the court and scored a layup to cut the Bradley lead to 1 with 6 seconds left. After a scary sequence that saw BU nearly throw away the following inbound pass. Connor Hickman went 1-2 on free throws, to give Bradley a 56-54 lead with 0.6 seconds left. The Cougars elected to throw a pass to the attacking free-throw line. Malevy Leons got a hand on the full-court pass, however, in a sea of bodies SIUE is able to put up a circus shot that is counted by the officials in real-time. Upon further review, the basket is waved off by the officials and Bradley escaped with 2 point win and their second true road win of the season. 

Notables

• Zek Montgomery returned to the Bradley rotation and played 15 minutes.

• Darius Hannah recorded his second double-digit scoring effort of the season with 12 points and he also chipped in 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a solo block. 

• BU's defense once again locked down the other teams leading scoring as Ray'Sean Taylor only collected 6 points on 10 shots in 31 minutes of work.

• Bradley was led by a trio of 12-point scorers in Rienk Mast, Connor Hickman, and Darius Hannah. 

What's next
Bradley will have 10 days off before playing again on Dec. 17th when they travel to Little Rock, Arkansas to play the University of Arkansas in a neutral site game. This will be the first-ever meeting between Bradley and Arkansas in men's basketball. Arkansas is currently ranked #9 in the most recent AP Poll while Bradley is currently on a 4-game win streak and has won back-to-back games away from Carver Arena.