When Southern Illinois and Bradley started a total of eight upperclassmen, it didn’t seem as though two freshmen would be key to the game.
Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in Marcus Domask led the Salukis in scoring during the regular season, but the Braves locked down the 6-foot 6-inch forward. He was 2-10 from the field scoring six total points and grabbed four rebounds, not to mention being called for four personal fouls.
SIU point guard Lance Jones and Bradley shooting guard Ville Tahvanainen led their respective teams. Jones tallied 20 points, 11 more than his season average, while Tahvanainen, a 6-foot 4-inch Finnish sharpshooter, scored 12 points, six more than his average.
Senior Nate Kennell didn’t quite have it at Enterprise Center on Friday afternoon. He was 1-6 from the field, 1-4 from 3-point land and only knocked down one shot the entire game. Tahvanainen played 25 minutes, thanks in part to two early Kennell fouls.
“He was huge,” Kennell said. “Ville played great. He stepped up and he just kept shooting it. He’s a good shooter and good player so it was just awesome that he was able to step up.”
Tahvanainen hit just one of his four 3-point attempts in the first half, but heated up as did many other Braves.
“I feel like even though I missed a couple of first shots today, I had the rhythm from the start,” Tahvanainen said.
He knocked down 3-of-4 in the second half and helped to key the comeback. Tahvanainen vocalized the mantra of playing selflessly in tournament games.
“I mean, even though Nate was struggling or not, I’m just trying to help my team win, whatever it takes,” Tahvanainen said. “I was just concentrating on making winning plays. I mean, these guys made great passes today, and it was just my job to shoot the ball.”
Shooting was also Jones’ mindset. He led all players with 20 attempts from the field converting on nine. His 20 points led all scorers.
Having confidence is paramount in all NCAA conference tournaments. To SIU head coach Bryan Mullins, the weekend in St. Louis is one of the best in the country. Whichever team comes out of the Valley will be balanced.
To be successful the Braves need to play together and keep level headed. They have pulled off upsets and battled back from deficits the last two seasons. Kennell knows it’s not always going to be his day as does Tahvanainen. One truly never knows who is going to step up.
The freshmen stepped up today and tomorrow against Drake, it may be the sophomores. Drake was led to a victory over No. 1 seed UNI by sophomore classmates center Liam Robbins and guard Roman Penn.
“Ville stepped up and made some big threes today for us,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle.“It could be someone different tomorrow. These guys are going to show up, and Nate’s going to show up, Koch [Bar] is going to show up. Those guys that have been in this tournament a lot are going to be there. It’s the other guys that can make big plays for you to help win.”
