Eleven ties. 16 lead changes. One momentous shot.
Those are a few words to describe the battle between Bradley (5-1) and Wright State (4-2) in the semifinals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
The game came down to the wire. Both teams jockeyed for position, and the largest lead was six.
Head coach Brian Wardle called a timeout with the game tied at 71 and 1:44 to go. In the huddle, Wardle called one of his patented after-timeout (ATO) plays, hoping to get a good shot.
As the players returned to the court, the ball was inbounded to senior guard Duke Deen, who received a screen from sophomore Almar Atlason, intending to create a mismatch. The play fell apart, and senior Zek Montgomery was forced to heave a contested three-pointer as the shot clock expired.
He made it.
He didn’t call bank
The shot banked in off the backboard and gave the Braves a 74-71 lead that they never relinquished, leading to a 77-74 win and a trip to the championship game.
“We didn’t execute that play very well,” Wardle said. “That’s one I didn’t like out of a timeout. Duke kicked it out to Zek and Zek let it ride. He just got the shot off. It was the right thing to do, and it went in. You need the ball to bounce your way sometimes like that to get a win in these games.”
Montgomery has made several big shots in his college career, but few compare to the go-ahead three.
“I saw two seconds on the clock when I caught it and launched it,” Montgomery said.“I did not call bank, but it’s alright though. Bank’s open.”
“That [shot] is definitely top five,” Montgomery added. “I probably got the Loyola-Chicago shot from my first year higher than that one; I’m not going to lie. That one is number two, though.”
The shot was just three of Montgomery’s season-high 19 points. The wing played very decisively against the Raiders. He found the spots he wanted as he hit pull-up jump shots, drove to the rim and knocked down threes.
“I came out aggressive,” Montgomery said. “I did whatever I could to help our team win. That’s all I can say.”
Montgomery was not alone. Deen, Atlason, junior Ahmet Jonovic and senior Darius Hannah all finished in double figures. Bradley’s offense continued to shine. The team shot 52 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three.
Metas was major
Jonovic came off the bench to start but was highly impactful in his role. He finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes of play. With Jonovic on the court, the Braves were extremely difficult to guard. He worked in the pick-and-roll with Deen to create mismatches, and whenever he got one, he punished smaller defenders in the post.
Jonovic is having a breakout season in his junior year. According to Barttorvik, Jonovic is shooting 80 percent at the rim this season, has an offensive rating of 116.4, a true shooting percentage of 64.2 and a free throw rate of 63. In simpler terms, Bradley is more often than not creating easy looks with Jonovic on the floor.
“I’m proud of Meta, man,” Hannah said. “It comes down to reps and it comes down to confidence. I see it growing in him every day. Once again, it comes down to reps and confidence, and we believe in him a lot.”
“Meta is a big, huge body,” Wardle added. “He hits people. He creates separation for guys. He creates separation for himself because he screens, and we gotta utilize that.”
The 7-foot-one-inch center from Serbia played well enough to start the second half in favor of Atlason, who was having a great game to that point with 10 points on three-of-five shooting.
“You’re dealing with unselfish guys in our locker room,” Wardle said. “They’re not too worried about that. Al [Atlason] knows he’s going to play. Meta knows he’s going to play. It was just based on what we wanted to start the second half with.”
The Braves were tested
Bradley’s offense was as efficient as ever, but the defense was challenged. Wright State is an excellent team, led by junior forward Brandon Noel. Noel and his teammates hit several contested shots and deep threes. Wright State shot 52 percent from the field and 47 percent from three. In some plays, the Braves defended well, but the Raiders played better offense.
“They’ve been good for many years now,” Wardle said. “They were good when I was in the Horizon League at Green Bay. They have a long tradition of winning at Wright State. You have to beat that program, too.”
Noel was named Preseason Player of the Year in the Horizon League. He finished with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
“I mean, it was what it was,” Hannah said. “He’s a great player. He averaged 20 and 10. You can’t take that away from him. He did his job, but the goal was to play our defense and get the win as best as we could.”
“They’re a great team,” Hannah added. “They are older, and they have leadership. This is what we do, though. This is what we practice every day. We compete every day, and we came out on top.”
Bradley is no stranger to high-intensity games. Wardle had games like this in mind when he created the team’s out-of-conference schedule. Battles like these will pay dividends as the season continues.
“I’m happy we won, that’s for sure,” Wardle said. “That was a great game to be a part of. I thought it was just two really good teams battling it out, playing unselfishly, executing and making big plays. We were just able to make a few more than them. I’m proud of our team. Everyone stepped up in their minutes and gave us huge contributions.”
“We knew we were going to play some good teams,” Wardle added. “That’s why we played the non-conference schedule that we are. I told them that they were prepared for this. They’re prepared to play well in this tournament. I thought that we had to play well today.”
The Braves will prepare to perform well again on Sunday when they face Middle Tennessee in the Myrtle Beach Invitational championship game.
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