SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Southwest Missouri State (13-8, 7-6) crashed the boards and converted 20 Bradley turnovers into easy points to earn an 80-66 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball victory versus the visiting Braves (11-10, 4-9) Wednesday night at Hammons Student Center.
SMS earned its sixth consecutive win and sent the Braves to their fifth straight defeat and eighth loss in the 10 games since Bradley's 81-70 victory versus the Bears Jan. 5 at Carver Arena.
Bradley junior forward Marcellus Sommerville (Peoria, Ill./Peoria H.S.) scored a game-high 23 points and shared team-high honors with eight rebounds. Junior guard Tony Bennett (Chicago, Ill./Westinghouse H.S.) added 16 points and four steals for the Braves. Senior center Tamarr Maclin finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds and was one of five Bears to score in double-figures. Tyler Chaney led the way with 17 points and five assists.
Sommerville got Bradley off to a quick start by scoring nine of Bradley's first 12 points and assisting a Jeremy Crouch 3-pointer for the team's other basket during the 12-6 burst to start the game. Sommerville's second 3-pointer gave the Braves a 19-13 lead with 10:21 left in the first half and Lawrence Wright gave Bradley another 6-point lead, 21-15, by scoring in the lane with 9:15 to go before the break.
Southwest Missouri State's work on the boards and Bradley's turnovers proved too much for the Braves to overcome, however. Although SMS committed 12 first-half turnovers, Bradley's 13 miscues were more costly as the Bears had a 16-8 advantage in points off turnovers in the first period. SMS also rode 11 second-chance points to a 35-29 halftime lead.
The second period proved to be much of the same. SMS scored the first five points of the second period and Bradley pulled no closer than seven points the rest of the game. Although the Braves did limit SMS to 36.2 percent shooting from the field, Southwest Missouri State finished with a 15-point advantage in both second-chance points (26-11) and points off turnovers (25-10). SMS also drained 32-of-38 free throw attempts to offset its poor shooting from the floor.
Bradley, which has dropped a pair of home games during its five-game slide, will try to snap out of its dry spell Saturday night when the Braves host league-leading Wichita State (17-3, 10-2) in a 7:05 p.m. contest at Carver Arena. Saturday night's game will be televised regionally on Comcast SportsNet in Chicago and Fox Sports Midwest.
