“As the year went on we became a more connected team, whereas last year we were connected from the start,” junior guard Connor Hickman said.
“That’s why this one hurt a little more to me,” Hickman added.
With 15 seconds left and down by three against Drake in the Arch Madness semifinal game, Bradley men’s basketball head coach Brian Wardle brought his players in to draw up the final play of the game.
“If you miss you foul, these guys know that, if we make it, if it’s a three then we’re tied,” Wardle said. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to get it in there, execute a play that we’ve been working on in practice… it was hard because of how they were defending and I wish I would’ve been smarter about that.”
As the ball found Hickman after the inbound, the junior guard went for a shot from beyond the arc.But after making six threes last night, this one was off-target.
“It kills me to not execute my best down the stretch for guys [Malevy Leons and Darius Hannah] like that, I didn’t want to make that shot for me,” Hickman said. “I missed it and the first thought in my head was ‘I just missed that shot and this might be Malevy’s last game.’”
There was more late-game heartbreak for the Braves as their run through Arch Madness ended against the Bulldogs with a 72-67 defeat. In the tightest edition of the Braves-Bulldogs rivalry this season, Saturday marked the second year in a row that Bradley fell to Drake in St. Louis and the third time this season.
Night and day
Bradley fans had become accustomed to lethargic starts from the Braves this season and some feared they would fall into the same trap again. However, Bradley looked energetic and focused as they corralled the Bulldogs into uncomfortable situations early on.
Starting on a 12-2 run, the shots were falling for the Braves as senior Duke Deen scored seven of those points in the game’s opening frame. It was night and day when comparing the Braves’ offensive production to the Bulldogs.
As the Bradley defense suffocated the Bulldogs, Drake was held to 1-7 shooting during the first seven minutes of the game. Darnell Brodie made his frustration evident as he threw his headband down on the court, resulting in a technical foul.
“Everything was working for Bradley in the beginning,” Drake head coach Darian DeVries said. “I thought they did a really good job on us, on the defensive end they got us kind of on our heels, kind of stagnate.”
With all the momentum, freshman Almar Atlason gave the Braves their biggest lead of the half with a 3-point shot that made the Bradley crowd roar. Still, the Bulldogs didn’t stay quiet forever, as they started chipping away at the Bradley lead.
After a pass from Tucker DeVries, Bulldog Conor Enright sank a dagger three to bring the game within two for Drake with 2:05 left in the first half. Although largely held at bay by the Braves, Enright started finding his groove during the final stretch of the first half.
“Once I see one go in, it just kind of shoots up my confidence,” Enright said. “We were struggling to score the ball so I just saw a couple go down and it helped us get back into the game,”
With 28 seconds left in the first half, Enright continued to push the Bulldogs past the Braves with a couple of successful free throws, growing the Bulldog lead to 38-35. Shooting a pull-up jumper with the clock winding down, Deen succeeded and was fouled in the process for an and-one.
As Deen made his free throw, the half ended with a 38-all score.
Momentum shift
Whether it was mid-game nerves or good defense, both teams struggled to get anything going in the first two minutes of the second half. Despite Hickman sinking his third 3-pointer of the night, fouls were starting to become a serious issue for the Braves.
Senior Darius Hannah and Deen picked up their third foul during the infancy of the second half, causing the Braves to tread through some unfamiliar territory with alternate lineups.
“We had some crazy lineups in at times that we normally don’t want to see on the court, but they battled, they competed,” Wardle said.
With different lineups on the floor, the Braves struggled to find any consistency with their shooting. They went 3-10 during the first nine minutes of the second half, while the Bulldogs made five of their six shots from the field during that same timeframe.
“They took away the dives mainly and that’s one of my favorite things is hit[ting] Darius [Hannah] on a dive,” Hickman said.
Off the bench, redshirt junior Christian Davis provided the offensive spark the Braves needed. After the Bulldogs tied the game at 56 all, Davis produced a little bit of magic from a made layup straight underneath the basket to push the Braves forward with 8:45 left.
When it seemed the Bulldogs were ready to pull the leash, the Braves continued to tug, keeping the game within reach.
Perhaps that’s why this one hurt more.
“These are hard at the end of the year, these are hard to lose, these games, especially one you felt you could win,” Wardle said.
Whether it was the clock starting to run out of time or the Bulldogs ability to pull wins out of poor performances, the Braves season has come to a close. However, there is a possibility of an epilogue.
“I don’t think we’re done playing, but obviously we want to get to the NCAA tournament and get to Sunday [at Arch Madness] again so it’s pretty hard on us all,” Wardle said. “What I’ve seen of projections [is that] we’re not in the lock [of the NIT], we don’t know for sure but hopefully we can maybe keep playing.”
“Yeah, disappointed right now, proud of how the year went and we tried our best and hopefully we get another game,” graduate senior Malevy Leons said.
