The Bradley men's basketball team continued its most dominant run in conference play during the last 14 seasons, posting a 68-59 victory over Drake on Saturday night at Carver Arena. Winners of seven of their last eight games, the Braves improve to 15-11 on the season and 9-5 in Missouri Valley Conference action, while the Bulldogs drop to 17-9 overall and 8-5 versus league foes.
Sophomore Rienk Mast led Bradley with 15 points and seven rebounds in the winning effort – making 5-of-7 field goals and both of his 3-point attempts. Graduate student Mikey Howell added a season-best 14 points to go with a game-high four assists, while junior Terry Roberts also scored in double figures with 11 points.
The schools battled through a defensive first half with Bradley earning a one-point edge at the break. The Braves held the early edge with an 11-5 lead only for the Bulldogs to answer with a 10-2 run and a 16-13 advantage. Neither team would lead by more than a single possession the remainder of the half as freshman Zek Montgomery gave the Braves the lead at the intermission with a triple in the final minute for the 29-28 edge at the break.
The tight contest extended to the early minutes of the second half as it continued to be a one-possession game for the opening eight minutes. The Braves, however, would catch fire from 3-point range to finally gain some cushion in the contest.
Leading by four points, 44-40, Bradley connected from beyond the arc on four possessions in five trips down the court. Mast ignited the run with the first two before Howell and junior Ville Tahvanainen finished the spurt for a 56-46 Bradley lead with just under eight minutes remaining. Drake would only be as close as nine points the rest of the game as Bradley secured its third-straight win with the 68-59 victory.
Bradley shot 38.9 percent in the winning effort but made 44.4 percent of its field goals after the intermission with a 4-of-10 clip from 3-point range. The Braves, meanwhile, held the Bulldogs to under 40 percent in both periods – forcing Drake into its second-worst shooting day of the season at 35.7 percent with a season-low three 3-pointers (in 13 attempts).
BU also dominated the glass in the winning effort – outrebounding the Bulldogs, 45-28, to go with a 7-3 edge in blocks.
The Braves look to continue their winning ways with a road contest at Southern Illinois on Tuesday night. Game time in Carbondale is set for 7 p.m.
Game Notes: Bradley has won 7-of-8 Missouri Valley Conference games for the first time since 2007-08 … The Bradley bench scored 30 points on Saturday and now has 105 points from its reserves in the last three games (never scored more than 27 prior to the run and averaged 17.3 bench points) … Howell's 14 points followed a 12-point outing in Wednesday's win – his first two games of double-digit scoring this season … The Braves won for the first time in four games this season when shooting under 40 percent … Bradley has won the last three games in the series versus Drake and swept the Bulldogs for the first time since 2016-17.
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