Peoria, IL -- Bradley earned their third MVC win of the season following a 76-68 result over Evansville.
Evansville set the tone early, getting out to a 13-0 lead and forcing Bradley to take an early timeout. Much of that was built by Evansville's Joshua Hughes who connected on his first two attempts from outside and carried six of the 13 points for the Purple Aces in to the timeout. Bradley cut the deficit down but never tied the game in the first 20-minutes as Evansville took a 35-31 lead into the locker room. The Aces shot 50 percent in the opening half and held Bradley point guard Jaquan Johnson to just two points in the first half.
That changed quickly after the break.
Bradley came out more aggressive on both ends, attacking the paint and forcing Evansville into tougher shots. The Braves outscored the Purple Aces 45-33 in the second half and leaned heavily on Jaquan Johnson, who finished with a game-high 22 points. Johnson was especially steady at the free-throw line, knocking down all nine of his attempts, including several in the closing minutes to keep Evansville at arm's length.
Montana Wheeler and Demarion Burch provided timely buckets as Bradley began to build separation, while Corey Thomas did the dirty work inside, grabbing 11 rebounds and helping the Braves win the battle on the glass 41-39. Bradley also took advantage getting out in transition scoring 21 fast break points. BU's bench also came up huge combing for 29 points between the non-starters.
Evansville kept fighting behind AJ Casey, who led the team with 21 points, and Hughes, who finished with 14. But Evansville couldn't sustain their first-half efficiency, shooting just over 31 percent after halftime. The game featured five ties and seven lead changes all coming after the 17:39 mark of the second half when Bradley's
Jaquan Johnson capped off a personal 10-1 scoring run to begin the second half.
Both teams would be neck and neck as the game entered the final few minutes with Evansville battling back to take a momentary led with 8:39 to go. However, Bradley would have a counter for every answer by the Purple Aces.
Montana Wheeler and
Jaquan Johnson would go on to score 15 of the last 20 points by the Braves to put the game out of reach and secure an MVC victory.
Bradley will be back in action on January 1st, 2026 when they hit the road to take on the Belmont Bruins who lost a tight contest 81-80 at Indiana State in overtime. The game will tipoff at 6:00 p.m. and will be available for streaming on ESPN+. Fans can also tune into 1470 WMBD to listen to the Bradley radio broadcast.