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Timely play by Kennell, Henry boost Braves to OT win

Nate Kennell shoots over ISU guard Dedric Boyd in a game on Jan. 22. The senior finished with 19 points in Wednesday’s win at ISU

When Bradley came out of the locker room for the second half down 28-33 at Illinois State on Wednesday, sophomore forward Ja’Shon Henry and senior guard Nate Kennell had a combined two points. Together, they were one for six from the field.

When the buzzer sounded on a 74-71 Bradley overtime win, their second OT victory in three games, the duo had a combined 30 points.

However, the second installment of this year’s War on I-74 was far from a tale of two halves for the Braves. The win over the ninth-place Redbirds was a grind through and through.

“We knew that we were gonna come in and it was gonna be a war,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. “Throw out the records, it doesn’t matter. Throw out what year your players are, it doesn’t matter. Both teams are gonna lace ‘em up and compete in this game.”

The competition was in favor of Illinois State in the early going, as the ‘Birds held the lead for most of the first half and opened up a 13-point lead just before the 7-minute mark. Bradley used an 11-1 stretch over the next few minutes to cut the lead before the half.

After the break, the Redbirds started on a 7-0 run to energize the crowd for what would be a back-and-forth second half. Bradley eventually marched back and regained a 45-44 lead at the 9:31 mark thanks to a Kennell layup, their first lead since the score was 9-8.

From there, neither team could pull away.

Minutes after Bradley snagged the lead, Kennell made a three to extend the lead to four but was called for a technical for jawing at his defender after the make. The foul triggered a 12-2 ISU run that swung the Birds’ lead back up to six with 4:53 remaining.

The call was the second tech of the game called on Bradley. The first of which, called on senior Darrell Brown with 54 seconds remaining in the first half, was followed by a 10-0 Redbird run.

“I always tell the guys, ‘Keep your mouth shut, let me do the talking to the referees’,” Wardle said. “We’ll address that and talk about it for sure.”  

The Braves clawed right back with a run of their own and eventually found themselves up by three points with 14 seconds to go after two clutch shots by Brown: one to give the Braves a one-point lead and another 40 seconds later to extend it to three.

Out of an ISU timeout, senior guard Zack Copeland took a 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining and airballed, but was fouled by BU junior forward Elijah Childs. The foul was Childs’ fifth, and Copeland made all three from the stripe.

With two seconds remaining, Brown couldn’t hit a game-winning three for Bradley, and the game was sent to overtime tied at 67.

With Childs out for the extra period, Henry started in OT and was an integral part of the game plan, with many scorers running on empty.

“We were going to him, too, because he had a little life in his legs,” Wardle said. “Darrell was running on fumes, Nate was, [Kingsby] was chasing Copeland around a lot. It was just overall a gut check.”

The sophomore succeeded with flying colors, scoring all seven Bradley points in overtime; two from a field goal and five from free throws.

His one field goal, a contested jumper from point-blank range, extended the BU lead to five with 2:56 to go. After a three and made free throw from ISU, Henry was fouled on the other end and sent to the line with Bradley up by one.

“I just turned and I knew that my defender was behind me so I knew if I just went up I could either finish the bucket or get a foul,” Henry said. “I got a foul, and once I got up to the free throw line, my teammates calmed me down, like, ‘look man, this is just a normal free throw, just be able to put them in,’”

Henry went two for two, and Copeland missed two desperation shots before the buzzer to give Bradley its 20th win of the season. 

“We just fought to the end and overcame adversity,” Kennell said. “We knew it would be a dogfight.” 

That adversity included the lull from Childs, who finished with just four points and rebounds. It was Henry, who finished with an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double, and senior Koch Bar, who finished with 10 and 8, and stepped up in his place. 

“Not [Childs’] best performance, I don’t know if he’s had these numbers all year,” Wardle said. “For the other guys to step up and make plays was huge… I mean, our team has kind of been that next man up mentality all year with our injuries. So, it doesn’t surprise anyone on that bench.” 

Also reaching double figures was Brown, who posted 17 points to go with seven assists and three steals. 

Bradley, now 20-10 and 11-6 in conference play, will meet Loyola 1 p.m. Saturday at Carver Arena for the final game of the regular season. 

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