The Scout is in St. Louis for the 20th installment of Arch Madness and Bradley is slated to take on the fourth-seeded Creighton Bluejays for the second time in as many games. Right now, UNI is on a 29-2 run against Drake. Drake has missed 16 consecutive shots and has only scored points this half on two free throws.
Freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards is wasting no time getting acquainted to the MVC Tournament and will be starting the third game in a row for the Braves. Sophomore Taylor Brown will come of the bench, from where he had 27 points and eight rebounds in Bradley’s last game.
Creighton comes into this game holding a 3-1 advantage over the Braves in the MVC tournament. The last game in the postseason series came in 2008, which the Bluejays won, 71-62. Coach Dana Altman has led Creighton to six tournament titles and is an overall 21-8 in Arch Madness’ history.
Bradley is on the court for warmups and sporting the Blackout jerseys they used against ISU at home earlier this season. Junior Andrew Warren gave us a quick look at the getup during warmups.
UNI finished off the Bulldogs of Drake in the first game today and will move on to play the winner of the BU-Creighton game.
We are now roughly three minutes from tip-off and the Bradley band is loud. The team just emerged from the tunnel and are taking their final warmups. God Bless America is in the books and the intros are set to begin.
The game is underway and Kenny Lawson scores on the first possession of the game. The second possession turns into a Lawson putback and Josh Jones hits a lay-up to give Bluejays a quick 6-0 lead. Coach Jim Les uses the Braves first timeout after the lay-up. Ethan Wregge hit a three to stretch the lead to nine. Taylor Brown pulls down the first defensive rebound of the game for the Braves. Brown gets the Braves on the board with a slam after freshman Jake Eastman supplied him the ball down low. Eastman followed with a baseline layup to cut the lead to three. Jones hit a three to extend the lead. Wregge hits another three to give the Bluejays a 15-8 lead which leads us to a media timeout.
Simms-Edwards takes over at point for Sam Maniscalco and corrals a rebound on the offensive glass for the easy two. Maniscalcostole the ball at half-court and gives the ball to Chris Roberts who puts it away with authority. Bluejays have the lead 15-12 at this point. Chris Roberts ties the ball up underneath the basket with Wayne Runnels and the Braves get the possession. Creighton calls a timeout.
Will Egolf draws his first foul at the 10:37 mark and subsequently exits the game. A Chris Roberts’ steal gives the Braves a new possession. Maniscalco draws a foul and takes the first free throws of the game. He knocks them both down to bring the Braves within three. Egolf draws his second foul and again, Singh checks in for him. This time, the foul sends Kenny Lawson to the line. Roberts fouls Antoine Young who knocks down both free throws. Andrew Warren gets whistled for a foul which puts the Bluejays in the bonus.
Coming out of the timeout, Justin Carter hits both free throws. Maniscalco drives to the basket and hits layup. On the other end, Simms-Edwards comes up with a steal and Brown finishes with the dunk. A shooting foul from behind the 3-point line gives Maniscalco three free throws and he hits all three of them to cut the lead to two. Brown comes down with the defensive board and Warren finds himself at the line where he knocks them both down to tie the game up with five and a half minutes to go. Kenny Lawson breaks the tie for Creighton at the line with two freebies. Roberts is called for a walk and turns the ball over which turns into a Jones 3-pointer. Maniscalco draws a foul on a breakaway and will shoot free throws after a timeout.
Maniscalco knocks down one of two which gives the Braves their first miss from the line all night. Warren comes up with the steal but it comes to no avail. Lawson hits a three to stretch the Bluejay’ lead to seven. Maniscalco hits back-to-back threes to cut lead to one. Warren hits a deuce to give the Braves their first lead against Creighton all season. Bradley takes the one point lead into the half, 32-31.
Creighton took the lead back on two Carter free throws to start the half. Egolf picks up his third foul a little over a minute into the half. Kenny Lawson pulls down an offensive rebound and that leads to a Wregge miss from beyond the arc. Singh fouls Young while he’s driving to the basket and it turns into two free throws. Eastman follows that with a two. Chris Roberts follows up a Brown miss with the putback dunk of the year. Bradley takes the lead 36-35.
Maniscalco darts his way through the Creighton D for a bank two. Egolf bodies up Lawson and forces an airball. Roberts forces a steal and gets an outlet pass for the easy layup.
Witter hits a three to cut the Braves’ lead to two. Roberts corrals a board on the offensive glass and puts it back for an easy two. Carter is whistled for the offensive foul. Witter commits an off-ball foul.
Dyricus Simms-Edwards takes the ball to the hole for an acrobatic two. Lawson swats an Eastman shot out of bounds. Simms-Edwards hits a three to extend the Braves’ lead to seven. Lawson answers with a dunk. Eastman returns to face Lawson but draws the foul and hits the bucket for the three point play. Creighton takes a timeout with the score 50-44 Braves.
Maniscalco hits a three and Jones answers to keep the difference at six. Carter grabs an athletic board and puts it back to bring the Braves’ lead to four. Sam Singh answers with a two of his own. Braves’ lead is at six, 55-49.
Creighton comes out of the timeout with a bucket to cut the lead to four. Manicalco is fouled from beyond the arc and hits all three to extend the Braves’ lead. Young throws the ball away and Maniscalco is fouled once again. Maniscalco hits all three for third time tonight. Braves’ lead is 12. Brown hits a runner to extend the lead. Simms-Edwards draws the foul that sends the Braves into the double bonus with over five left to play. As Sam Singh stretches out Maniscalco’s leg after Maniscalco leaves the game with a leg cramp. Egolf hits an easy layup. Maniscalco returns to the game to chants of his last name from the student section. Bradley calls timeout with a 15 point lead, 69-54.
Warren hits the first shot after the timeout to extend the Braves lead to 17.
Lawson scores right after the timeout to cut the lead. Maniscalco runs the clock down and Roberts grabs a board to reset the shot clock. Maniscalco draws a foul and hits both. Maniscalco draws a foul after grabbing a defensive rebound and hits both free throws. Witter hits a three to cut the Braves’ lead to 16, 75-59 with a little more than two minutes to play.
Maniscalco once again finds himself at the line and fails to disappoint with two makes. Warren draws the intentional foul and hits them both. Maniscalco leaves the game to a standing ovation. Warren hits a fallaway to ice the game. Eastman asks for a little noise as the clock runs down. Braves secure the W, 81-62.
