All season long the Braves (26-7, 15-5 MVC) have looked at their veterans to deliver in big moments. Seniors Duke Deen and Darius Hannah have each made multiple game-winning plays throughout the season.
When Bradley found themselves trailing for much of their game against Valparaiso (15-19, 6-14 MVC), they needed someone to step up and create a momentum swing.
With their backs against the wall, they leaned on two of their role players.
Junior center Ahmet Jonovic and freshman guard Jaquan Johnson provided big plays throughout the 40-minute battle when the team needed them the most.
Can’t quit Quan
The day’s second semifinal featured a gritty, grind-it-out game where both teams fought tooth and nail to advance to the finals. Valparaiso grabbed control of the matchup early on after the Beacons went on a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 24-13.
Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, All Wright, was finding space in the Braves’ defense and was responsible for eight of the 10 points in that Valparaiso run. Bradley struggled to find a defender that could keep Wright in front. Johnson stepped up to the difficult task and succeeded.
“I made a lot of mistakes in the first half, not trailing him because [of how] great of a shooter he is,” Johnson said about Wright. “But I found out he doesn’t like ball pressure, so I ball pressured him a lot more. [I was] a lot more physical with him and it worked out.”
Johnson wasn’t the only one who put more pressure on the dangerous three-point shooter; Deen and senior Christian Davis also had good moments on defense against Wright. He had 18 points in the first half, but could only add six more in the second half.
“He’s a big time offensive player, but to see how he’s developed and grown defensively from senior year [of] high school to now, that’s what I’m most proud of,” head coach Brian Wardle said. “Seeing his effort defensively and what he can do for us on that end quickly.”
At 11:15 in the second half, Johnson fought towards the basket and converted an and-one basket like he’s done all season long; it tied the game at 51-51. On the next offensive possession with the shot clock dwindling, Johnson created something out of nothing and made a circus-act basket.
Those moments aren’t anything new to the Braves or their fans, who erupted at the Enterprise Center after each and-one basket. Hannah had two and-one opportunities that equally energized the sea of red and propelled yet another dominant second half performance by the senior forward.
“Just keep talking to him,” Hannah said about his leadership practice towards Johnson. “He’s my little brother. He’s going to listen. So just [help] keep him neutral, don’t be too high, don’t be too low and just stick to how we train.”
Metta maximization
At 7-foot-1, Jonovic towers over most of his teammates and opposing players on the court. His game has grown in the program over the past two years, and it paid dividends on Saturday night.
At halftime with the Braves trailing 34-31, Jonovic was the leading scorer with nine points and recorded six rebounds. His offensive production was easily seen, but his defense on Cooper Schweiger was also incredibly valuable.
Schweiger, a second team All-MVC selection, had shots altered and denied by Jonovic. The sophomore finished with 19 points, but shot a seven-for-22 (31.8%) from the field. Jonovic also saved possessions by grabbing offensive rebounds and hustling after loose balls.
“Metta is as hard of a worker as I’ve ever seen when it comes to a guy his size,” Wardle said. “We have to calm him down and take him out of the gym… The way he’s playing right now, down the stretch for us, is what you want to show young guys. Hard work pays off.”
With the game in the waning seconds and the crowd chanting an emphatic “BU”, Jonovic made the final free throw to put the game away at 70-65 and send Bradley into the championship.
Second half team
Like the quarterfinal game against Murray State, Bradley struggled on offense in the first half against Valparaiso.
Across the first 20 minutes, the Braves shot 10-for-27 (37%) overall and three-for-12 (25%) from the three-point line. Deen and Hannah, the two leading scorers from the night before, combined for only four points on one-for-nine field goals.
The Braves aren’t strangers to those moments, and knew what must be done if they wanted their season to continue, which they executed.
“There’s no panic. We know there’s 20 minutes left, three-point game,” Wardle said about remaining calm at the break. “We needed to tighten some things up defensively [and we] talked through that. Tweaked a few things, tried to, offensively, get Darius more touches.”
“You’re not going to reinvent the wheel at halftime,” Wardle continued. “But you can tweak some things to try to get better scoring opportunities, better matchups, and then defensively, we just had to play smarter.”
Hannah unlocked himself in the second half once again. Scoring 14 more points while making six of his eight shots from the field, he finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.
“[Valparaiso] was doing a great job of switching, denying, trapping the balls screens,” Wardle said. “We saw that last night. We saw it again today. So you’ve got to punish the switching in different ways, and one way is obviously go inside or get to the glass.”
The second half inside game for the Braves was strong. The team converted at a 60.9% rate, and got to the free-throw line 16 times. Despite six different lead changes across the game’s final seven minutes, the Braves did just enough to live another day.
“It’s March. March Madness right there,” Wardle said. “That was a fun game to be a part of…They obviously gave us everything we could handle. But your defense has to outlast your offense, I say that all the time to my team, and that’s what happened today.”
Bradley advances to the MVC Championship game against the top-seeded Drake Bulldogs. The two rivals split the regular season series, with each team winning on the road against the other. But neither of those games has the significance Sunday brings. The winner clinches a berth to the NCAA Tournament, while the loser will have to wait and see if their season will continue.
“This is where we expected to be, and we had a good feeling Drake would be there too,” Wardle said. “This is the game we’ve worked for all off-season for, all season for, and we wanted to put ourselves in position to cut the nets down and have a chance at the NCAA Tournament.”
