Different players react differently to injury. Some stumble, while others come back stronger.
Junior Connor Hickman, after missing four games due to injury, put up a career-high 28 points against the Valparaiso Beacons as the Braves’ men’s basketball team earned their first conference victory with a final score of 86-61.
“I’ve had a lot of time off, obviously I want to be out there, I want to be playing but just getting to watch the games and watch my team, you also get to learn a lot,” Hickman said. “I’ve kind of slowed down a little bit as well and picked my spots better.”
Hickman was deadly from beyond the arc as he knocked down six threes and went 10-16 from the field. Hickman once again showed his importance to this Braves side.
“We’ve done everything we can to get him back on the court and he felt good in practice the last couple of days so you could tell he was getting his bounce back,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said.
Both the Braves and the Beacons struggled during the first two conference games of the season, going 0-2 in early December. While the Braves got over their recent slump, the Beacons continue to struggle with the loss of leading scorer Isaiah Stafford and having the seventh youngest team in the country, according to KenPom.
“I’m proud of our freshmen, we’re playing quite a few freshmen too,” Wardle said. “It was a good win overall for us.”
After two minutes of timidness from both offenses, Hickman dealt the first bit of damage as he drove to the basket to record his first points of the night. Bradley found holes in the lane all through the night as they put up 32 points in the paint as a collective.
Hickman wouldn’t be the only player on the court with a special night as multiple Braves had career nights of their own, one of them being sophomore Ahmet Jonovic. Putting up 15 points, the Serbia native went 6-8 from the field along with six rebounds.
The Hickman and Jonovic duo gave Bradley a 10-0 run to start the game at Athletics-Recreation Center. WIth 10 seconds left on the shot clock, Jonovic received a low ball in the paint, and after some twisting and turning he eventually found an opening. As the clock flashed 14:35 left in the first half, the Beacons were still searching for their first points of the night.
Finally breaking through, the Beacons got their first points off a successful trey from Darius Deaveiro, who opened his account which ended with a tally of 19, while also leading in rebounds for Valparaiso.
The ball flowed freely for the Braves with senior Duke Deen taking up his familiar role of being Bradley’s main orchestrator. Responsible for eight of the Braves’ 17 assists, Deen was quiet pointswise in the first half but was still able to deposit 10 points against the Beacons.
“I got to chill a little bit tonight,” Deen said. “We haven’t really dominated any team for the whole 40 minutes this year so it’s a big step for our team, and it shows us that we can dominate any team.”
Off the bench, Jonovic and redshirt junior Christian Davis contributed heavily, putting up 15 and 12 points respectively of the 29 bench points for the Braves. Yet, there was one Brave who continued to consistently hit all the right buttons.
Starting from the backcourt and receiving the ball while jogging to the midline, Hickman took a shot from deep which resulted in his second straight three and fourth in the previous three minutes. Hickman topped it off with a cheeky shrug as Valpo took a timeout with 3:01 to go in the half.
The Braves headed into the locker room one step closer to their first conference win with a 44-29 lead over the Beacons. Despite the solidity on offense, one of the factors that Hickman noted was on the other side of the ball.
“I looked up at the scoreboard at one point and they were 3-16 so you know key in on personnel and guarding our yard is what the coaches call it,” Hickman said. “I thought we did that very well in the first half.”
It was a comfortable return to the court for the Braves in the second half as Bradley recovered the ball well, getting 19 second chance points. On top of that, graduate senior Malevy Leons was constantly alert and pounced at any opportunity to recover a loose ball.
As Leons used his length to interfere with the trajectory of a Beacon pass, he recovered the ball near the half court for the 100th steal of his Bradley career, giving him the second-most steals in program history.
While Valparaiso trailed for most of the game, they got within 10 points after a fastbreak ended in a Jahari Williamson corner three, making the game 49-39 with 17:24 left. Williamson continued to cause trouble for the Braves with his 12 points on the night.
“We had to do better with ball screen defense and we switched a little bit more down the stretch because once we got that lead we talked about doing that,” Wardle said.
While turnovers have been the Achilles heel for the Braves this season, the Beacons struggled with them in the second half, giving up the ball 15 times and allowing Bradley to capitalize as they scored 24 points off turnovers overall.
With 14:27 left, Davis took advantage of a fastbreak off a turnover as he rushed past the half court and towards the key to let out a vicious one handed dunk, making it a 62-41 game for the Braves.
As the night progressed, the Braves defense remained locked tight, leaving the Beacons empty handed for the last 6:27 of the game. Junior Cade Hardtke put the finishing touches on the victory as he released a successful layup for the 86-61 final score.
With their first conference win secured, the Braves march back home to Peoria to host the Missouri State Bears on Saturday. Still, Wardle and the Braves continue to set their sights on what lies beyond the regular season.
“I told the team, I think there’s about 64 days or so till Arch Madness and we just have to take it one day at a time and keep improving,” Wardle said.
