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Loyola boat races Bradley out of Arch Madness

Terry Roberts (0), Connor Hickman (10) and Malevy Leons (14) walk off the court following Bradley’s loss to Loyola on Friday. Photo by Larry Larson.

On Jan. 8 at Loyola, Bradley squandered a double-digit second half lead and lost in overtime. On Friday afternoon at the Enterprise Center, Loyola led by 17 at the half, and did just the opposite, defeating the Braves 66-50 to eliminate them in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

According to Bradley head coach Brian Wardle, the same mistakes that haunted the Braves in that loss, as well as in their other 13 losses, came back to haunt them. 

“It wasn’t our day, it wasn’t our game,” Wardle said. “The number one key offensively was [to] play with poise, and I don’t think we did that very well today…I thought we kept our heads pretty well, but on the court, we just got rattled at times and that led to turnovers…We didn’t play well enough to beat that team.” 

In addition to 15 turnovers which resulted in 20 Rambler points, Bradley shot a season-low 31% from the floor. In essence, Bradley played like a team with limited experience in the bright lights of Arch Madness. 

“I think you have to experience Arch Madness, it definitely does help,” Wardle said. 

Bradley’s roster featured just two active players that played in either of their MVC Championship wins in 2019 or 2020 – junior guard Ville Tahvanainen and senior center Ari Boya. 

Loyola, on the other hand, boasted seven players that had appeared in a title game – including 5th year senior Lucas Williamson, who led the Ramblers with 13 points in addition to five rebounds and three assists. 

Loyola’s dominance didn’t start until a couple minutes into the game, however. 

Bradley snatched the momentum out of the gate, racing to a 4-0 lead off of two Loyola turnovers. With the Braves leading 8-6, the Ramblers responded fast and furiously, ripping off an 11-0 run to snatch a 17-8 lead with 13:15 to go in the first half. 

“Basketball is a game of runs, at that point we were down 4-0,” Williamson said. “It’s not like we’re going to blink… It’s just about getting composed, getting our team together… We still had time to set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Set the tone they did, as the Braves let the deficit swell to as high as 20 following a turnover and uncontested Marquise Kennedy dunk with 54 seconds left in the first half. 

It was Kennedy’s first game back after missing nine games with a leg injury, and the junior guard provided a spark off the bench, chipping in 9 points. 

Bradley freshman Connor Hickman drained a 3-pointer on Bradley’s final possession of the frame to make the halftime deficit 44-27. 

The Braves attempted to reset on defense out of the break and held the Ramblers without a field goal for the first five minutes of the frame – but the drought ended in a big way.

With Loyola still leading by 16, Tom Welch beat Braves center Ari Boya to the paint and threw down a vicious dunk on top of the Braves 7-footer, sending the fans clad in maroon and gold into a frenzy. 

The Ramblers held the Braves at an arm’s distance for the rest of the contest, as Bradley never climbed back within 15 points. 

The defeat marks back-to-back seasons in which the Braves were eliminated in their first round of the tournament – a stark contrast to the team’s back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020. 

Bradley finishes the season 17-14 – a campaign that featured a 1-5 start, but a finish in which the Braves won 9 of their final 13 contests. 

“This team was a lot of fun to coach,” Wardle said. “It’s sad to see this team done… We were having a lot of fun down the stretch here… I think we’ve got a lot of really good guys [in the locker room] that really love each other and care about each other.”

One of those nine wins came against Loyola at home. According to Ramblers’ head coach Drew Valentine, it was the little things that led to the win – like holding 5th year Mikey Howell and freshman Zek Montgomery to a combined five points – in addition to forcing Braves leading scorer, junior guard Terry Roberts, into six turnovers aside from his game-high 17 points. 

Rienk Mast, Jayson Kent, Mikey Howell and Ville Tahvanainen watch in disappointment in the final minutes of Bradley’s loss to Loyola on Friday. Photo by Larry Larson.

“In the first two games, Mikey Howell was a guy that really hurt us,” Valentine said. “Zek Montgomery, at Bradley, really hurt us. We made adjustments on those guys… I think we did a really good job on their other guys.” 

According to Bradley sophomore forward Rienk Mast, the team left something on the table in St. Louis, but his attention is already turned towards next year. 

“I’m ready to work this offseason,” Mast said. “This one really hurts right now. I thought we had a chance to show that we had a good team. I hope the rest of the team is ready to work this offseason.” 

For now, though, Wardle and company have a bitter taste in their mouths. 

“I hate losing, in anything,” Wardle said. “But you never want to lose the way we did today.”

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