Bradley claims MVC Opener vs UNI
Bradley and Northern Iowa collided in Carver arena for the second time in two years to begin the Missouri Valley Conference slate. Last season saw Bradley win a narrow 71-69 contest in a game that Bradley needed to have. Tonight would set the tone for both teams December schedules with UNI being the aggressors early jumping out to an early 7-2 run. The lead would stay with UNI for the majority of the half due to UNI's six timely made three-pointers, although Bradley would close the gap late heading into the locker room down a single point 30-29. The Panthers were led by Bowen Born and Trey Campbell who combined for 19 of their 30 team points. Bradley had a much more balanced attack with six different Braves finding the score column, none had more than seven led by Duke Deen.
Neither team found much room to work early in the second half with the lead fluctuating between 1-5 points for UNI. Bradley would finally take the rim off the basket after holding UNI scoreless from the field for over three minutes for the third time in the ball game. BU would finally find some momentum stemming off a 16-2 run fueled by Connor Hickman's 8 point out burst and ruckus Carver crowd. The Panthers wouldn't go quietly into the night as Bowen Born continued to give Bradley fits finishing with 22 points going 7-13 from the field and 4-8 from three. Bradley would throw the knockout punch with 5 minutes to go as Duke Deen rattled off back-to-back three-pointers to finish with a team high 18 points on the night and push the Bradley lead to 15 where it would never leave.
Original source can be found here
Alerts Sign-up