ST. LOUIS, Mo – #3 Bradley Men's Basketball fell to #2 Drake on Saturday night in the Arch Madness semifinals by a final score of 67-72.
Bradley and Drake went into the locker room at halftime tied up at 38. The Braves shot 61% from the field 63% from the three-point line with five made in the half. They also recorded nine fast break points.
Connor Hickman led the game in points with 12 after he was 5-for-7 from the field. Duke Deen tallied 11 points with three assists. Christian Davis was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc in the half.
The Braves fell with a final score of 67-72 to the Drake Bulldogs. The Bradley MVC season comes to a close after this game. In the game, Bradley shot 44% from the field and 36% from the three-point line. The Braves recorded 28 total rebounds with 14 points in the paint and four steals.
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"I'm proud of these guys," Wardle said. "I don't think we're done playing but we obviously wanted to get to Sunday again. It's a passionate, intense and emotional game. We just didn't make enough plays."
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Hickman was the leader in points with 21 after he was 8-for-16 from the field. Deen ended his game with 13 points and five assists.
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"As the year went on, we became more of a connected team," Hickman said. "This one hurt a little more to me because we grew together."
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Davis, Darius Hannah and Almar Atlason all recorded eight points in the game. Davis had four rebounds with two three-pointers and Hannah tallied three rebounds, one block and a steal. Atlason landed two three-point shots and had four rebounds. Malevy Leons collected eight rebounds, three of them on the offensive glass.
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"These are hard to lose at the end of the year," Wardle said. "The guys played their heart and soul and left it on the floor."
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"[I'm] proud of how the year went," Leons said. "We tried our best. Hopefully we get another game."
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Looking Ahead
Bradley will await the end of the conference tournaments around the NCAA and see if they will get a bid. The last time Bradley made the NCAA Tournament was in 2020 but was canceled due to COVID-19. The Braves earned a spot in the NIT last season but fell to Wisconsin in the first round. BU last made the CBI in 2008 when they were the runner-up.
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