Loyola LUC 18-5, 9-3 MVC

Bradley BRAD 14-11, 8-5 MVC

Loyola LUC

18-5, 9-3 MVC

Final

Feb. 09, 2022

Bradley BRAD

14-11, 8-5 MVC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Loyola LUC	30	31	61
Bradley BRAD	32	36	68

Box Score

Braves Stay Hot, Defeat First-Place Loyola

Box Score (PDF)

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/9/2022 11:54:00 PM

Peoria, Ill. – The Bradley men's basketball remains one of the hottest teams in the Missouri Valley Conference with Loyola its latest victim after a 68-61 victory at Carver Arena Wednesday night. The Braves have won six of their last seven games to improve to 14-11 and 8-5 versus league foes, while the Ramblers drop to 18-5 overall and 9-3 in Valley play.

Five Braves scored in double figures to lead BU to victory. Junior Malevy Leons notched a game-high 14 points but it was graduate student Mikey Howell and freshman Zek Montgomery that came up clutch off the bench. The duo each scored 12 points – a career high for Montgomery, while a season-high for Howell – combining to make 8-of-11 field goals and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

Junior Ville Tahvanainen also tallied 11 points off the bench as BU finished with a convincing 37-20 edge in bench points on the night. Junior Terry Roberts chipped in 11 points and four assists, while sophomore Rienk Mast dominated the glass for BU with 14 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

Celebrate hard tonight 🅱️🏀🎉

Get back to work tomorrow 👷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/ljYlyQ674d
— Bradley Basketball (@bradleyumbb) February 10, 2022

A close game throughout, the teams each had a first-half run to keep the contest tight. Bradley led for a majority of the opening period thanks to an early 13-2 spurt. Trailing, 6-2, BU used a trio of three-point plays – an and-one from Mast followed by triples by Howell and Tahvanainen – to score nine-straight points before adding an additional four points after a pair of Loyola free throws for a 15-8 advantage.

Loyola would not go away though and trailing by six, 28-22, used an 8-0 run of its own to move back in front. Leons, however, would give the Braves some momentum heading into the half – scoring the final four points for a 32-30 Bradley lead at the break.

The teams traded the lead six times in the early minutes of the season half before the Braves were finally able to gain some breathing room behind Montgomery. The rookie scored five points in under a minute – sandwiched around a layup from Howell – igniting a 9-0 Bradley run that turned a 42-41 deficit into a 50-42 lead. Once the Ramblers cut the advantage to three, 50-47, Montgomery followed with his third triple of the game to quickly push the lead back to six, 53-47 with just over nine minutes remaining.

Loyola had one final push and would pull to within one, 57-56, with 5:30 remaining. Sophomore Darius Hannah would sink a pair of free throws, however, on BU's next possession and after forcing the Ramblers into three-straight misses, Leons scored on a turnaround jumper for a five-point lead, 61-56, with 3:24 left. Loyola was never within a single possession the rest of the way as Bradley completed an 8-1 run for an eight-point lead before finishing off the 68-61 victory.

Bradley shot 43.6 percent in the winning effort with a 10-of-21 clip (47.6 percent) from 3-point range. The Braves also held the Ramblers to more than five percent below their season average at 43.1 percent from the field with an 8-of-23 mark from 3-point range.

The Braves look to maintain their winning ways at home, hosting Drake on Saturday night. First tip at Carver Arena is set for 7 p.m.

Game Notes: Bradley has scored 75 bench points in the last two games (37.5 per game) – BU averaged 17.3 in the season's first 23 games and had never scored more than 27 in a single game … Bradley is 10-2 since Nov. 27 when it scores 15 or more bench points … Howell and Montgomery's previous season high were both nine points against Brown on Nov. 20 … Montgomery has tallied 24 points in the last three games after scoring 34 in the season's first 22 contests … Tahvanainen is now shooting 47.7 percent from 3-point range in BU's victories (compared to 22.2 percent in defeats) … Mast's 14 boards were one off his career high (15 against South Dakota State on Nov. 9) … The Braves ended Loyola's 23-game winning streak against Illinois schools as BU extended its lead in the all-time series to 37-32.

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