When sophomore Ja’Shon Henry slammed down a dunk for the final points of a 83-79 overtime Bradley victory over Missouri State Wednesday night, the Carver Arena crowd was up for grabs.
The win, the Braves’ first overtime game since 2015 vs North Dakota, marks the first time since the 2008-09 season that Bradley has won 10 games in conference play.
“It was the loudest, maybe, Carver’s been all year,” Braves’ head coach Brian Wardle said. “We needed it too, I mean these guys were running on fumes, and both teams were.”
The rest of the game almost perfectly followed a narrative arc, with Henry’s flush serving as the climax of a thrilling game.
The lead fluctuated throughout the game, as Bradley had control early, but lost the lead with 12:24 to go in the first half. Following the swap, the Braves held the Bears without a field goal for four minutes before going into halftime with a 41-32 lead.
In the second half, Missouri State gained momentum out of the gate, as the whistles became plentiful and the crowd became more engaged, often in the form of boos. The Bears trailed until they snagged their first lead of the half with 8:29 remaining off a Bradley turnover, prompting Wardle to call a timeout.
Senior Darrell Brown responded with 11 points in two minutes and 20 seconds to breathe life into the crowd that had lost some steam. He finished with a game-high 19 points, but said it was an unsteady performance.
“I really couldn’t make any shots to start the game,” Brown said. “I just stayed aggressive, guys gave me confidence to keep shooting the ball, and they left me open a couple times in transition, I was able to make some big shots.”
The spurt wasn’t enough to put the game away, as Missouri State freshman guard Isiaih Mosley went on a 7-0 run of his own to diminish the Braves’ lead back to one. The Bears eventually pried back when guard Lemont West’s layup made it 69-68 with 3:13 to play in regulation.
After the lead was swapped a few more times, the game was knotted at 72 with one minute to play, but two travel calls – first on Mosley with 19 seconds remaining and then on Brown with three on the clock – prevented either team from taking a shot to win.
Bradley won the overtime tip and Henry scored the first bucket of the extra period to make it 74-72. Missouri State was able to snatch the lead back with a Keandre Cook layup with 3:55 to go, but it would be the last time the Bears were in the drivers’ seat.
The game was tied at 79 again, but after Mosley fouled junior Elijah Childs, the forward hit two free throws to give the Braves a lead they wouldn’t surrender, culminating in the Henry dunk and jubilation of the 5,708 in attendance.
The Braves received double-digit scoring performances from five players. Brown led the way with 19 points and five assists, followed by a 15 point, 10 rebound double-double from Childs.
Freshman sharpshooter Ville Tahvanainen scored 12 points in just 17 minutes of play off the bench. Senior Koch Bar provided a presence underneath the basket, scoring 11 points, along with Henry, who dropped 10.
“[Brown] really passed the ball and playmade for us in the first half, in the second half he made big shots and scored,” Wardle said. “Ja’Shon making his big free throws … Eli, just his presence and forcing double teams, [senior] Nate [Kennell] had huge defense in the end, [redshirt-junior Danya Kingsby] played really good D on Cook for the most part. It was just a total team effort.”
In what was a physical battle, three players fouled out and 51 combined fouls were called. The whistles dictated the flow of the game, especially putting Missouri State at a disadvantage in the early going.
Within the first two minutes of the game, Bears big man Gaige Prim picked up a common foul and was called for a technical on the same play. The foul trouble sent Prim to the bench and forced Bears head coach Dana Ford to get creative, already down senior forward Tulio Da Silva, who didn’t make the trip due to the influenza.
“We grew today, in terms of showing some resiliency,” Ford said. “Those were some rotations and some lineups out there that hadn’t played together in probably weeks, and I still felt like we had our chances to win.”
While both coaches watched their words postgame, the consensus seemed to be that the game was too physical to their tastes, despite the plethora of whistles.
“I’m a big boxing fan and there’s a heavyweight championship fight Saturday night. It looked like that at times in this game,” Wardle said. “It was a physical war out there, and we were able to just make enough plays to win. I’m glad there were no injuries in that game.”
“It was a slugfest, in my personal opinion,” Ford said, visibly frustrated. “I thought our guys tried to hang in there as best they could. The players ran the game, which I don’t know how or why … I don’t know how that can happen at this level, this big a game.”
The victory moves the Braves to 10-5 in Missouri Valley Conference play, good for third place, one game behind Loyola. The Ramblers come to Peoria on Feb. 29 for Bradley’s senior night.
Now winners of four straight, BU will travel to Valparaiso for a 7 p.m. match-up with the Crusaders on Saturday.
