Des Moines, IA -- The Bradley Braves earned a regular season sweep of the Drake Bulldogs.
Bradley earned an 87-73 Missouri Valley Conference road win over Drake at the Knapp Center in Des Moines completing a regular season sweep of Drake for the first time since 2021-22.
The Braves were fueled by a tremendous shooting night from Alex Huibregtse, who scored 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting and knocked down nine of his ten attempts from three-point range which tied the Bradley program record previously set by Duke Deen against Missouri State on 2/21/24. On the night Bradley shot 65.4 percent from beyond the arc as a team, with six different players connecting from three-point range.
Bradley led 41-35 at halftime and pulled away after the break by shooting 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half while connecting on nine three-pointers. BU would push their lead to as many as 21 points with just under 15 minutes to play in the game. The Braves also received strong production off the bench, totaling 29 points, with
Kai Yu contributing a career high 12 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting performance and
Montana Wheeler adding 10 points. BU also didn't was opportunities to cash in on Drake turnovers with 16 points coming off eight DU mistakes.
Drake was led by Jalen Quinn, who scored 32 points on 10-of-18 shooting and went 10-for-11 from the free-throw line. Andrew Alia added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but the Bulldogs struggled from long range, finishing 6-of-25 from three-point distance and only collecting 10 team assists.
Bradley won the rebounding battle 38-34, helping the Braves improve to 15-8 overall and 8-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Drake fell to 12-11 overall and 6-6 in conference action. Bradley will now return home for a midweek encounter with the Valparaiso Beacons in what will be their first match up of the season. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+ with Brian Bedo and Kristof Kendrick on the call.