Peoria Standard

Bradley Sweeps the I-74 Rivalry

Two weeks after Bradley and ISU played an overtime affair in Peoria, the two teams would meet again for the regular season finale of the I-74 Rivalry. Bradley would start the game off with a torrid pace. BU scored the game's first nine points and took and 9-0 advantage into the game's first media timeout. The Bradley defense has been dialed in as of late and it showed again against the Redbirds as ISU didn't record a point for the first six minutes and didn't record a FG from the floor until the 10:35 mark of the first half. Bradley would go on to extend their lead up to 20 points in the first half and carried a 41-21 lead into the locker room. As the second half started Bradley would continue to apply pressure from the 3-point line as Zek Montgomery, Duke Deen and Ville Tahvanainen connected on multiple 3-pointers to push the BU lead to a game high 25 points. With just a few minutes remaining in the game ISU would respond with a 10-2 scoring run but ultimately couldn't find a way to slow down Bradley on the offensive end. The Braves would see the game out with an acrobatic dunk from Darius Hannah, who knocked the ball free and found himself all alone on the fast break and preceded to throw down a windmill dunk to seal the game.

"It was a total team effort win, I thought Rienk and Malevy did their thing and I thought our bench was big time with 27 points.. Ville, Ja'Shon, and Darius gave us great minutes tonight." - Brian Wardle 

The duo of Rienk Mast and Malevy Leons once again showed out for the Braves as the two Dutchmen combined for 37 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. The Bradley bench also stepped up against ISU with 27 points (13 points from Ville Tahvanainen and 8 points from Ja'Shon Henry). 

Original source can be found here