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Redbirds take the first round in the War on 74

Illinois State outlasted a Bradley comeback, beating the Braves men’s basketball team 55-52 at Carver Arena Wednesday night.

On the first day of classes for Bradley students, an attendance total of 7300, the largest attendance total at Carver this season, came out to watch an overall dismal game between the two rivals.

The first half featured a combined 17 turnovers between the two teams, and .36 and .33 field goal percentages by Illinois State and Bradley, respectively.

“In the first half, I just thought, ‘we need to make layups,’” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. “If we could just make three or four layups, we could be up at halftime and it could be a different ball game.”

After halftime, where the Redbirds lead 27-23, Illinois State used an 11-4 run over the first 7:04 of the second half to post a 14 point lead over the Braves.

Wardle called timeout and regrouped his team.

“They made a run, and we had our heads down for a little bit,” freshman guard Ronnie Suggs said. “Coach called that timeout and that gave us a kind of resurgence.”

Following the timeout, the Braves used a 14-5 run, capped by two of Suggs’ 16 points, to cut the lead to five with 6:44 to play in the game.

“[I told them] we’re going to stay together and we’re going to turn this right now,” Wardle said. “We just made some adjustments on offensively and defensively, but they talk in the huddle. I was proud of our kids.”

Bradley was able to cut the lead to two, but was never able to turn the one play they needed to flip the game.

“It comes down in a game like that to making the big shots and big plays in the last four minutes of the game… We just weren’t able to connect on them,” Wardle said.

In the end, Illinois State was able to fend off the late Bradley rally, as Suggs missed a desperation half court heave as time expired.

Suggs said the outcome of the game for Bradley was a product of the team’s own doing.

“We just dug ourselves into a hole at a nine and thirteen point game, and we can’t do that,” Suggs said.

Suggs and the Braves go on the road to take on Wichita State Saturday.

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