Peoria Standard

Nashville, TN. Bradley falls to 2-1 in Missouri Valley Conference games after a thrilling final four minutes against the Belmont Bruins in Nashville. 

Accompanied by 150+ of the Bradley faithful, the Braves took on the Belmont Bruins for the first time in program history. The opening six minutes of the game saw both teams jolt out to an electric start shooting the ball as the Bruins shot over 80% from the floor and the Braves shot over 50% from the floor. Bradley and Belmont combined for 36 points at the games first media timeout with Belmont holding a 20-16 edge. It was hard to miss the impact the perimeter threats of Kieshawn Davidson and Drew Friberg had in the first half for Belmont as both players combined for 18 points all of which came from long range. However it was not all doom and gloom for Bradley in the opening frame. The Braves managed to take the lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the half by way of a Bradley 11-0 run and an 8-0 to end the first half. BU filled the scoring column with nine different Braves tallying points, Rienk Mast was the best of the bunch with 10 points to lead all scorers at halftime. Bradley would claim a 38-34 edge heading into the break.

As the second half resumed neither team gave an inch with the games largest lead becoming 9 points in favor of Bradley with 10 minutes to go in the half. After Belmont saw Bradley go on two big scoring runs in the first half, the Bruins would finally answer in a big way. The Bruins would go on an 11-2 scoring streak spanning from the 6 minute mark to the 2 minute mark. Bradley and Belmont would swap the lead three times in the final three minutes from two Malevy Leon's layups and a Kieshawn Davidson running floater with less than 40 seconds left setting up a critical possession for the Braves defense. Belmont would inbound the ball underneath their own basket up one. Friberg's inbound barley beat the 5-second violation with a pass towards half court. Ville Tahvanainen and Ja'Koni Gillespie were nearest players for either team as both players simultaneously leaped for the ball, but it was Gillespie of Belmont who was able to snatch it away from the out stretched hands of Tahavanianen for a break away dunk to put Belmont up three with just 12 seconds left. Bradley would go on to get three good looks at open threes from Mast, Hickman (who's shot was halfway down and rolled out), and Deen but ultimately the last rebound turned into a scrum on the floor as time expired and Belmont handed Bradley their first MVC loss of the season at 63-60. 

Original source can be found here