Peoria. IL. The Bradley Braves 16-8 (9-4) defeated the Southern Illinois Salukis 17-7 (9-4) with a final score of 62-52 on Wednesday night in Carver Arena.
Game Recap
The Bradley Braves were able to get the better of the Southern Illinois Salukis at Carver Arena. Fifth year senior
Ja'Shon Henry recorded 13 points along with a solo steal and block to lead BU while
Rienk Mast,
Duke Deen, and
Zek Montgomery all chipped in double digit scoring efforts.
Darius Hannah provided Carver Arena with the first big play of the game after throwing down an alley-oop dunk from
Ville Tahvanainen. The high flying junior gave BU a small lead heading into the under 12 minutes media timeout. Hannah finished with two points but did a number of other things to help the Braves. Namely Hannah was ultra effective passing in the high post with two assists along with three total rebounds, two of which were offensive.
Rienk Mast also gave BU a great first half of work by collecting nine points and seven rebounds in the games first 20 minutes. Mast went as far as to collect the first seven points for Bradley, and was a key factor in BU's pick and roll defense. He would end his night with 12 points, 9 rebounds (3 offensive), and 2 assists. After SIU connected on a last second shot to end the half, Bradley took a 1-point edge into the locker room at 26-25.
As the second half got underway neither team found much footing, mirroring the action of the first half. Both teams traded early first half baskets but
Malevy Leons got one of the few clean transition looks for either team in the game after a quick series of passes from Montgomery to Hickman and finally to Leons resulted in a corner three. Leons also had perhaps one of his best defensive games of the season. Leons was the primary defender against Marcus Domask who came in as the MVC player of the year to many. While Leons did have help from time to time with Henry or Mast, it is beyond impressive to see Domask held to five points in the contest. In Domask's last outing he finished by scoring 32 points against Illinois State.
In a game that saw 11 lead changes and 4 ties it was no surprise that the game was close headed into the final few minutes.
Duke Deen would be one of the two major contributors down the stretch for BU. While being the smallest player one the floor Deen is no stranger to the big moments in recent games for Bradley. Deen would yet again enact some heroics this season by sinking two three point shots in the final three minutes to give Bradley a lead that they would not squander. Bradley as a result was able to hold down the SIU offense in the final five minutes on their way to a 14-2 scoring run to end the game, stemming from the game being tied at 48-48 with five minutes remaining.
What's Next
Bradley will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Cedar Falls, IA to take on the Northern Iowa Panthers on Saturday February 4th. Bradley claimed the first meeting this season back in Peoria, IL with a final score of 68-53 on November 30th. UNI is currently one game out of first place after dropping a game against Drake in Des Moines in 2OT. Bradley meanwhile is in a four team log jam for first place with Belmont, Southern Illinois, and Drake. The game is set for a 5 p.m. tipoff, and will be available for streaming over ESPN+