After holding Missouri State guard Isiaih Mosley to just four points on Saturday, Bradley men’s basketball couldn’t stop the sophomore star on Sunday afternoon as the Braves fell to the Bears 72-57.
The loss marks a two-game season series sweep by Missouri State, who beat Bradley by a combined 37 points over the weekend. The Braves were once again without four of their best players – seniors Elijah Childs and Danya Kingsby and juniors Terry Nolan and Ja’Shon Henry – who served the second game of a suspension due to violations of program standards.
“I know that group that played, that suited up, I’m proud of their decision making off the floor, but I know there’s more in them on the floor,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. “I know the effort [and] the toughness can be better from the group that suited up today.”
The loss marks the 8th in the team’s last 11 games and drops BU’s record to 11-13 and 5-10 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
“It’s the only thing you can do,” redshirt freshman Rienk Mast said. “Get into the game and give everything you’ve got and we’ll see what the scoreboard says at the end. And, today that was not enough, I guess.”
Despite the short-handedness, the Braves managed to keep the game close in the first half.
The two squads traded buckets in the first eight minutes of the game until the Bears strung together a quick 8-0 run to take a 22-14 lead with 10:53 remaining in the frame. After a timeout by Wardle, the Braves punched back with a 10-0 run of their own to take a 24-22 lead three and a half minutes later.
That would be the last advantage the Braves would hold for the rest of the game as the Bears surged ahead with a 15-2 run, which propelled them to lead for the final 26:50 of game time.
“There were a couple times where we got tired,” Mast said. “We’ve got a small rotation, we tried to slow the game down a bit. But I think we had a couple mental mistakes, they got little runs [that] we couldn’t answer like we could in the first half.”
Much of the Bears’ damage was done by Mosley and senior forward Gage Prim, who combined for a whopping 47 points. Mosley led all scorers with 27, shooting a perfect 5-5 from 3-point range. Prim had 20 points, which represented the vast majority of the Bears’ 26 points in the paint.
The highlight of the Braves’ afternoon was the play of Mast, who posted his first collegiate double-double, scoring 15 points with 11 rebounds. While he led the team in both those categories, he also stepped up to lead the team vocally throughout the weekend, according to Wardle.
“He’s just totally bought in,” Wardle said of his starting center. “He’s a grown man, he’s mature. He takes accountability, he’s easy to coach… He understands that the little things matter.”
For Mast, it was a matter of necessity.
“You’ve got some guys out, you still need to play a game,” Mast said. “I hope I know what coach wants, and I’m just trying to get everybody on the same page and tell them what to do when they don’t know…”
Next up for the Braves is a rematch of the squad’s Jan. 20 loss to rival Illinois State on Thursday night at Carver arena; which begins a three game homestand to end the regular season.
While the season is winding down, those involved recognize that much work remains to be done.
“I hope everybody realizes we still need to be better,” Mast said. “We had one good game against Valpo and I don’t know what happened but I guess some people just relaxed. I don’t know what it is, but one game is not going to get you there… Anything can happen in March, but we gotta dial in now.”
“That’s a talented group in [the locker room], but there’s a lot of areas we need to improve on,” Wardle said. “My job is to get consistency and five guys playing as one. And I have struggled to do that this year and that’s where we all gotta get better.”
Where does that begin? The mental side of the game, according to Wardle.
“It’s not over right now for this group, but some guys just gotta dig deep and find out: are they going to lay it on the line down the stretch here,” Wardle said. “The players have to hold each other accountable, that’s the biggest thing. Coaches can only do so much with accountability, but this is not a player-led team yet and if the players start holding each other a little bit [more] accountable we could make a run at this at the end.”
The Braves will tip-off against the Redbirds on Thursday at 6 p.m. According to Wardle, it has yet to be determined if the four suspended players will be available for the team’s next game.
