Press Row

Bradley’s regular-season finale at Creighton on Feb. 27 has been set for 2:05 p.m. and won’t be televised in the Peoria area.

Game time announcements for Valley contests that final day have been delayed in recent years to establish the best television matchup. Wichita State at Southern Illinois will be aired that day on Fox Sports Midwest and Comcast Chicago.

I trust my colleague Dave Reynolds found his way to Evansville and Roberts Stadium today. He has been there only about 15 times, so I’m concerned. I decided to skip this trip and be the stereotype blogger: Sitting in my basement, grunged out, snacks on the table, a drink within reach (but no alcohol till the game is over).

I will be working today at my coffee table, fashioned from some of the old bleachers at Robertson Field House:

The comforts of home supply the pregame good news. The bad news for BU fans: I’m predicting Evansville gets its first MVC win of the season today. Bradley should win, but I don’t think the Braves will. Just a gut feeling. Jim Les gets it. He expressed his concerns in Dave’s preview story. But we’ve seen too many times this season when his players don’t get it, and that’s a big reason they’re 11-11 overall and 6-6 in the Valley.

This is a must-win game for BU if it’s to stay out of the MVC tournament play-in game. Given the pileup from second through ninth place, it’s likely that a 9-9 record will wind up in some kind of tie that dips all the way to seventh place, maybe even eighth. Having already split their season series with SIU and Missouri State, and with a home loss to Creighton, the Braves are getting into a bind with tiebreakers. That will make upcoming home games with first-place UNI and second-place Wichita State even more important to win. But it would make a loss to Evansville today devastating.

At a glance, the schedule favors Bradley playing its way out of trouble. The Braves have three home games and three road games remaining. If they hold serve at home and win one road game — and today’s is the most winnable — they’ll finish with a 10-8 Valley record. Never has a 10-8 team finished as low as seventh. But 9-9 has (1997-98, BU and Evansville tied for the sixth and seventh spots). Failing to win today forces the Braves to win at either Indiana State or Creighton (or both) to win four more games.

We’ll see.

Tipoff at 4:05 p.m. …

Taylor Brown hits a tough, somewhat forced, shot off the drive for BU’s first points. … Evansville gets an offensive rebound, but misses the putback, and Bradley scores again in transition. … Lots and lots and lots of empty seats in Roberts Stadium, a joint that used to be regularly packed and rockin’. … Brown hits a 3 and he has all seven of Bradley’s points. … So far, Bradley’s energy is good: defensively active, pushing and aggressive on offense. The Braves have given up two ORBs already, though. Have to shore that up. … Sam Singh and Dyricus Simms-Edwards come in for BU, replacing Will Egolf and Chris Roberts. … Nice ORB slap-out by Singh. … Sam Maniscalco and Troy Taylor take turns burning each other on driving layups in the halfcourt. …

Timeout at 14:47 — Bradley 11, Evansville 5

Encouraging start for Bradley; this is what the Braves ought to do. They certainly can’t afford a flat start, and so far, so good. Now, they have to maintain. …

Andrew Warren picks and drives and gets fouled — maybe — going to the layup. Looked pretty clean, but there was a reach across the body to get to the ball, and that’ll get you nine times out of 10. Warren makes the FTs while the handful of Aces fans boo. … Jake Eastman in for Brown. … Now we have some confusion over whistles. Eastman travels, very obviously, but the ball goes to Bradley; apparently the whistle was because of a malfunctioning shot clock. Refs are checking at the table. Meanwhile, we see a replay of a previous possession by Bradley, and — gracious! — Warren shoots an eight-footer from the baseline that hits the side of the backboard. Awful. He’s really having trouble. … Two seconds taken off the shot clock, and BU sets its offense, and Maniscalco drives like Patton through Sicily for a layup. … Trading baskets, though. … Nice move in the paint by Brown: drive, stop, pivot, duck and flip it in. … Strong rebound by Egolf, followed by a foul as he tries to poke a ball from behind. …

Timeout at 11:49 — Bradley 17, Evansville 9

Good grief. Roberts has the ball on a 3-on-1 break, keeps it and charges. Dish it, dude! … Last couple of Evansville baskets have been at the rim. Bradley has to stop this penetration. … Illegal screen by Singh, but Roberts moved with the ball before Singh could set it. Have to use the screens properly. … Brown hits a pair of FTs for a 10-point lead; he has 11 of the Braves’ 21 points. … Anthony Thompson!!!!!! Sticks makes a first-half appearance for the first time in decades. OK, not decades; just seems that way. And a turnover on a pass from Sticks to DSE. … Bradley in 2-3 zone. … Back in a man on the next possession, and Sticks gets a blocked shot. … Maniscalco banks a 3-pointer off a high screen from Sticks. …

Timeout at 7:01 — Bradley 24, Evansville 14

Well, Bradley came ready to play. I wasn’t sure that would happen. Perhaps my prediction will be wrong. …

Maniscalco misses a FT, but Sticks taps out the ORB. Thompson is making the most of his opportunity. That’s really good to see. Use this kid. If he can contribute every game, Bradley’s options expand significantly. For one, the Braves can go bigger; play him and Egolf in tandem sometimes. Doesn’t have to be whole games, but I’d love to see 8-10 minutes a game when the Braves are playing two true bigs. … Ouch. I knew this game was a tad sloppy, but each team has committed eight turnovers so far. … Warren drives in the halfcourt for a layup in traffic. … Roberts extends the BU lead to 13 points with a pair of FTs. … Bradley back in zone, a 1-3-1. Seems to mixing defenses more today. … Another block by Thompson, who flies out of his middle spot to slap a shot on the perimeter. Keep it up, Sticks. Braves need this dimension and depth. … Another strong drive by Warren. … Boom! Thompson dunks off a nice high-low pass from Roberts. …

Timeout at 3:44 — Bradley 32, Evansville 20

Thompson picks up his second foul trying to stop a baseline drive at the rim. Left naked. … Really would like to see what BU could do going double-bigs in this game. … Oops. Evansville gets two second-chances and converts the second. Don’t go soft on that again. … Bradley’s aggressiveness on offense is getting the Braves to the line. Converting for the most part. Eastman splits a pair. Can’t figure out why this kid isn’t better at the line, because he has the look of a good shooter. But he’s 7-of-16 for the season right now. Ick. …

Halftime — Bradley 37, Evansville 26

Pretty good half for the Braves. Need another one.

Some off-topic thoughts at halftime:

All this NCAA tournament expansion talk: Be careful what you wish for. I heard Jay Bilas on ESPN College GameDay this morning warn about the unintended consequences, and he’s right. We all know money is driving this sudden burst of expansion mania, but for crying out loud, be careful. During my interview the other day with new Bradley athletics director Michael Cross, he cited his “favorite” quote, from Frederick C. Klein of the Wall Street Journal, published in George Will’s book, “The Morning After.” Said Klein: “The more prosperous a sport becomes, the more likely it is to destroy the reasons for its prosperity.” Amen.

I know a lot of so-called mid-major people are jumping on board with expansion because they fear the at-larges are being unfairly taken away by the BCS schools. I know the trend since 2006 has been downward for non-BCS bids, but I maintain that has been more a reflection of the slippage of quality among the non-BCS ranks. Be careful. The non-BCS are coming back with a vengeance this year. We still have several weeks before Selection Sunday, but look at the RPI ranks: Six non-BCS teams in the Top 20 — Rhode Island, New Mexico, Northern Iowa, Temple, Butler and BYU. Thirteen more in the top 50. I think we’ll definitely see multiple bids going to the Atlantic-10 and Mountain West, and likely multiple bids to the Valley, the West Coast and the CAA, and possibly to C-USA. …

Second half coming up …

Evansville goes low to Clint Hopf for its first points of the second half. … Egolf counters with an open J. … Aces get another ORB and second-chance basket. … Trading baskets. No damage because of an 11-point lead, but you want to step on the last-place team’s throat; strong second-half start and put them away. … Braves overall doing a good job on Colt Ryan, UE frosh who averages 15 a game; he has only six points. … Brown having a good offensive day; jumper one possession, pair of FTs on the next, and he has 15 points. … Warren hits a 3 and … whistles! Got some pushing off the ball. Discussion. They’ll count the 3 and call a double-foul, on Roberts and somebody from UE. …

Timeout at 15:42 — Bradley 50, Evansville 41

There’s a tough foul against Egolf. Going for a loose ball, gets tangled up. His problem was being behind the Evansville man and trying to reach for the ball; he didn’t have the inside position in the chase. Good hustle; bad break. … Warren extends the lead to 21 on a pair of FTs. … This is encouraging: Bradley doing what it should do to the last-place team on the road: Controlling the game. … Now Warren is heating up, a baseline jumper for his 17th point. … Brown joins him with 17 on a tough basket in the post. Marty Simmons has seen enough and wants a timeout for his Aces. …

Bradley up 56-33. … Braves have made seven of eight second-half shots. … Warren strokes another 3. Bye-bye, slump. … Bradley dropping the hammer; great pass from DSE to Brown on the break and BU is up by 26. … Now 28 on a pick-and-roll, Brown to Singh. … Ryan finally hits a 3 for the Aces, but barring a Bradley collapse, it’s way too little too late. …

Timeout at 10:26 — Bradley 65, Evansville 42

A little sloppy in the 45 seconds before the timeout. … Still sloppy. Not responding well to some aggressive Evansville D on the perimeter, and a bad handoff from Eastman to DSE. … Evansville converts and the margin is back to 20. … Quick shot by BU misses, but Evansville turns it over and Warren scores on a breakaway, taking a lead pass from Roberts. … Now, that timeout by Les right after the Warren basket made total sense: Chew on DSE for the quick shot. The last couple of minutes have not been good, and the lead has eroded by about 25 percent. Address the problem. … Evansville cuts it to 18 points. … Maniscalco hits the 3 after a patient sequence with good ball movement. First good possession in a while for the Braves. …

Timeout at 6:54 — Bradley 70, Evansville 49

Braves will win this one despite some rather poor work under Evansville’s basket. Killer in a close game, but the Braves are doing so many other things well, they’ll get by with that weakness today. … Brown scores again. I think both he and Warren are over 20 points now. … Ryan hits another 3, and he’s in double digits. He might reach his average, but he will not have had a significant impact on this game. BU did nice job taking him out. … Roberts a big dunk. …

Timeout at 3:51 — Bradley 75, Evansville 54

Braves have done a good job today. They took control early, built a lead, kept piling it up. There was the bad 2-3 minute stretch midway through the second half, when this was on the verge of being a 30-point game, and it slipped back to 18, but the Aces haven’t seriously challenged BU control since the first 10 minutes. …

Milos Knezevic in for Bradley. …

This will be Bradley’s third Valley road win, with two roadies to play. What’s maddening about that is that the Braves have lost two home games, thereby giving back two of those road wins. Worse, the home losses were not to teams in contention for the title — UNI and Wichita State still haven’t visited Peoria, so the prospect of further home losses is substantial. If the Braves had taken care of business at home, they’d be 9-4 after this one buzzers, and in a real battle for second place. Now, they’re in a fight for their lives to stay out of Thursday night in the tournament. The Braves have to raise their play a couple of levels and tough out wins in the remaining home games. …

Ryan Phillips hits a 3 in the final minute. … Bradley runs out the clock — oops, no: lob to Sticks misses. Get it back and run it out.

Final score: Bradley 83, Evansville 63

Courtside at Carver Arena. Will be really interesting tonight to see what kind of crowd shows up, and how enthused the hometowners will be.

Pregame notes

The refs tonight are Scott Thornley, John “Baywatch” Higgins and Steve Olson. That’s a terrific crew. Higgins is a Final Four vet. He has been doing Valley games for a long time. I remember first seeing him in the early 1990s, when some Bradley fans I was sitting with dropped the “Baywatch” tag on him. He was always tan in mid-winter, and had that surfer-boy hair. But he’s a good ref. Likes to let them play inside.

Bradley will maintain the same starting lineup: Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown and Will Egolf. Drake will start Ryan Wedel, Frank Wiseler, Josh Young, Adam Templeton and Seth VanDeest.

Drake has won six of its last seven and is in the three-way tie for third place in the MVC at 6-5. Bradley has lost two in a row after a three-game winning streak, and the Braves are 5-6, in the three-way tie for sixth.

This is a must-win game for Bradley in its quest to avoid the play-in game at the MVC tournament next month. The Braves cannot afford to lose any more home games. Bradley won the previous encounter, at Des Moines, 67-59. … And it was announced today that the Bradley-Drexel game in the BracketBuster will be at 7:05 p.m. on Feb. 20, at Carver Arena. No TV for that one.

Off Topic … while we wait for tipoff:

Today is the anniversary of Buddy Holly’s final concert, at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. And Wednesday is the 51st anniversary of “The Day the Music Died,” when Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (a.k.a. the Big Bopper) died in a small airplane crash in the wee hours. They were on the “Winter Dance Party Tour,” which was scheduled to stop on Valentine’s Day in Peoria and play the Armory. The tour, in fact, went on, with Waylon Jennings filling in along the way for Holly. Holly’s former band, The Cricketts, stepped up and joined the tour after his death as well.

Last fall, I visited the Buddy Holly museum in Lubbock, Texas; his hometown.

I also visited the tribute to Buddy outside the civic auditorium. Nice little garden with plaques commemorating other West Texas artists. But the statue is all Buddy:

A moment of silence for Buddy, Ritchie and the Bopper …

Tipoff coming up. …

Bradley pounds inside to Egolf on first possession; he can’t score, but that was definitive as to what they want to do. … Drake over-and-back on its first, with a deflection off Young’s foot. … Roberts puts BU on the board first with a 3 from the right wing. … Templeton drives the paint and scores over Egolf. … Maniscalco gets to the paint and kicks to Warren for a 3, which he makes. … Egolf gets his first foul at 18:03, and Sam Singh replaces him. That was quick. … Bradley gets second-chance points after Singh gets an ORB. … Drake counters with three second-chance points after a long rebound eludes everyone and goes right to Wedel. … Lots of scoring. Both teams shooting well. …

Timeout at 14:48 — Drake 11, Bradley 10

My colleague Dave Reynolds, the Illinois Sportswriter of the Year, just pointed out Singh has one rebound per minute right now: three. That’s as many as the entire Drake team. Of course, there have been only eight missed shots and we’ve played barely five minutes. …

The pace stays fast after the timeout with each team scoring in the first 25 seconds of resumed play. … Dyricus Simms-Edwards is in for Roberts, and Egolf comes back for Singh. … Simms-Edwards a nice strong drive to the bucket for two. … And he follows with a strong defensive rebound — and then a 3 in secondary transition as he trails the play downcourt. … Maniscalco drives base for a layup, and Bradley is on a seven-point run. … Bradley’s energy level much better tonight. … Whoooo! Sweet baseline drive by Young for a hang, float-under-the-rim, high-spinning reverse layup. …

Timeout at 11:32 — Bradley 21, Drake 18

Bradley getting to the paint every time down. … Drake is there on most of its possessions, too. … Egolf goes for a nice ORB and gets the putback. Very strong, crossing the lane from right to left and splitting two Bulldogs to get the ball. Nice nose. … Drake is much better than when we saw the B-dogs right after Christmas. Infinitely more confident and fluid on offense. Defense, a matchup zone, ain’t much to talk about so far. … Bradley has been mostly man, with some zone; and so-so. … Bradley’s FT shooting is not even so-so in the early going: 3-for-6. … Wedel filling it up for Drake; already has 15 points; only one 3-pointer for the shortest man on the court (he’s 5-11). Driving through Bradley like the Braves took ex-lax before the game. …

Timeout at 7:01 — Bradley 30, Drake 26

Here’s a disturbing set of numbers: Drake is only 2-of-10 from the 3-point arc, but 10-of-13 inside. Bulldogs winning the paint 12-10 at this point. …

Young beats Roberts off the dribble, then splits the entire Bradley defense, right down the middle, for a layup and gets fouled. Converts, and it’s a one-point game again. … Yeesh: I don’t know if Baywatch started to count late, or just has a slow count, but Roberts was hounding Young on the dribble for more than five seconds; right on his butt, with no separation. Young couldn’t shake him and finally was able to pass off. I’d love to see a replay and count that one. I’m thinking seven seconds at least, from start to pass. … News flash! — Bradley makes two consecutive FTs; both by Brown. … Young limps out of the game; doesn’t look too serious. … Finally, a really good defensive stand by the Braves, forcing a bad 3 at the shot clock buzzer. And the next time down, Roberts erases a shot inside. …

Timeout at 3:05 — Bradley 32, Drake 29

So far this has been an entertaining game. More offense than defense, but that’s OK sometimes. At some point, though, you have to stop the other team. … The effort for Bradley is better on that end, although the execution leaves room for a lot of improvement. …

Now Brown gets beat on a drive, then beaten again for the rebound and the putback, as Drake regains the lead. … Egolf gets an ORB and putback to put BU back on top. … Lead changes mounting; I think we’re up to 10 with Maniscalco’s 3-pointer. … NEWS FLASH: That basket puts Maniscalco in the Bradley 1,000-point Club, with 1,002 points for his career. Congrats, Sammy. …

Bradley ending the half on a positive note; starting with Sammy’s 3, followed by him assisting Brown for a jumper. Now a stop and BU holds for the final possession, which Maniscalco ends with another 3. …

Halftime — Bradley 42, Drake 35

Some stats: Bradley shooting 55 percent, Drake 44. The Bulldogs are 2-of-14 from the arc, and the Braves are 5-of-9. … Bradley leads the boards 19-16; tied 6-6 on offensive glass. … Drake leads points in paint 16-12 and second-chance points 9-8. … Considering the pace, both teams taking care of the ball: Bradley 5 turnovers, Drake 3. Bradley has only one steal, Drake three. … Wedel leads all scorers with 15; has taken (and missed) only one shot since reaching that point total in the first nine minutes of play. … Maniscalco has 12 points, Brown 8 points with 4 rebounds. …

Second half

Egolf picks up his second foul of the game at 19:01. Only Bradley’s seventh of the game. But now Roberts gets a foul, Bradley’s third of the half and eighth of the game. Young cuts the lead to five with the FTs. … Young goes down again, but this time he’s holding his mouth. He comes out to avoid Drake having to call time. … Wiseler drives for a layup through the BU defense, and the Braves commit a turnover. Young back in, and it’s another slow second-half start in the making for Bradley. … Templeton posts up Brown and dusts him, cutting the lead to a point. … Egolf picks up his third foul with 17:04 to go, and Bradley is not looking good. … DSE in for Roberts, Singh in for Egolf. … Another Bradley turnover. … Great block by Brown in transition, andWarren picks up the pinball scramble. … First real spark of life in the Braves this half. … Brown gets fouled and scores BU’s first second-half points with a pair of FTs. … Singh deflects an entry pass and BU on the move again, until Warren throws it away. …

Timeout at 15:46 — Bradley 44, Drake 41

Well, I told you Higgins lets them play. Templeton just decked Roberts with his left arm on a baseline drive and scored. Higgins let it go. … Roberts responds with a 3, so maybe the no-call got him fired up. … Now Templeton flies through a host of Braves for a transition tipin. Inexcusable letting anyone get to the rim like that. … Well, Roberts gets the break on this one. Thornley lets Roberts put his shoulder into his man and run over him; calls the foul on Wiseler. … Turnovers mounting. An exchange of turnovers ends with Maniscalco on a fastbreak layup for Bradley and a foul, but he can’t hit the FT. Bradley still up four points, so the Braves survived the opening onslaught without giving up the lead. … Roberts a 3 from the corner after a nice passing sequence for BU. … Now DSE leads a BU break and hits Brown in stride for the layup. Mark Phelps wants timeout; can’t wait for the under-12 with Bradley running out to a nine-point advantage like that. …

BTW, crowd announced at 8,670. Not close to that in the building, though. Lots of empties among the season-ticket areas. And the student sections: lots of long, empty rows. Sad. … The enthusiasm of those here is all right, though. …

Timeout at 10:48 — Bradley 54, Drake 47

The difference in this game, statistically, is the 3-point line. Bradley is 7-of-12, and Drake is 2-of-19. That’s a 15-point swing for Bradley, which is shooting selectively and well. Drake isn’t getting many open looks, but the Bulldogs have countered that until the last couple of minutes with effective inside play and putbacks. …

Bradley now has seven turnovers this half. … Singh is a board monster tonight; just grabbed his eighth. Templeton has a dozen for Drake, though. … Young finally breaks a Drake 3 drought; the Bulldogs are now 3-for-22. …

Timeout at 7:55 — Bradley 54, Drake 50

Bradley has to find a way to score inside. Egolf throttled tonight. BU has only four points out of him and Singh combined. Also, BU is having a bad night at the line; just 8-for-14 now after Maniscalco splits for the second time tonight. Even the best FT shooters are off. … Nice tapout offensive rebound by Singh. That’s his career high for a single game: nine. … Young hits another 3 and the margin is down to a pair. …Second half much slower and in the halfcourt sets. … Maniscalco scores and Jim Les calls one of his “We just scored, so I must call a timeout” timeouts. … VanDeest scores in the post for Drake, and this one seems destined for the wire. … Tough shot by Maniscalco in the paint, followed by a steal by Warren and Brown gets fouled. He makes both, and the lead is back to six. … Breathing room, but not enough to relax. …

Timeout at 3:55 — Bradley 61, Drake 55

Shot-clock violation on the Braves. Warren’s 3 from the corner is deflected and misses the rim; ball on floor when the clock expires. … Young begging to take over for Drake. He came out of the timeout and made a pair of FTs. Now he drives and gets fouled by Roberts. Bonus situation, and Young makes both; two-point game again. … Maniscalco replies to Young; gets a tough drive to the paint, fake and spin for a bucket. … But Warren fouls Young quickly on the other end, and Young makes both. We have a showdown between a couple of tough veteran guards. … Roberts misses a layup — and a putback of his own miss. … Drake cuts the lead to one on a VanDeest FT. …

And what a finish! Wild and crazy. Maniscalco misses a 3, but Egolf tips it in. Drake answers with a 3 by Templeton to tie, and BU sets for a last shot with 16 seconds left. Maniscalco takes a 3, misses, but Egolf is on the spot again with the rebound, which he grabs and tosses back at the basket, falling away. Swisho. Drake desperation at the buzzer misses.

Final score — Bradley 67, Drake 65

Live today from courtside at Redbird Arena. The game is a sellout. Should be a rowdy atmosphere; just hope it stays relatively clean. The students here have a rep for being vulgar, at least when Bradley comes to town. Both teams have a level of desperation. They’re each .500 in the MVC, which has Northern Iowa at the top, Evansville at the bottom and an LA freeway at rush hour in between. A win doesn’t give either team separation, nor does a loss make the last month of the regular season hopeless, but with only seven league games after today, there’s little margin for error in the fight for tournament seeds — and especially to avoid the play-in round.

The refs today are Gerry Pollard, Tom O’Neill and Steve Skiles. This will be interesting. Bradley coach Jim Les has had some run-ins with Skiles and Pollard over the years. …

Lineups: Bradley goes with Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. ISU goes with Osiris Eldridge, Alex Rubin, Lloyd Phillips, Jackie Carmichael, Dinma Odiakosa. …

Tipoff …

ISU goes inside to Odiakosa for the first points. … Brown answers with a jumper from the elbow for Bradley. … Brown forces a shot from the wing; might have been partially deflected, but it airs. … O hits a 3. … Now he airs a 3. … Roberts guarding O in the man defense. … And Roberts comes back and takes advantage of O sagging to hit a 3 of his own and tie the score at 5. … Warren gets a stolen pass and breakaway dunk. … Egolf called for a foul, as Odiakosa powers in the post. … Sam Singh and Dyricus Simms-Edwards enter for Bradley, replacing Egolf and Roberts. …

The students get started with, “F-U BU”. They just say the letters. And now comes a “BS” chant — with the words fully enunciated. …

Timeout at 15:25 — Bradley 7, ISU 7

Singh got fouled to stop the clock for the TO; fouled in the post. Makes both free throws. … The Braves lose track of Eldridge — I’ll be calling him “O” because everybody does — and he scores easily. … Eldridge making things happen. He drives base, draws double coverage and shovels a pass to the post for a layin, then comes back with a long 3. … Bradley’s offense starts to stutter a little. … Les calls a 30-second timeout, down five points. … Nice hard drive by DSE and he gets fouled. He has been only a .536 FT shooter, and he splits these. Like his game, but that’s got to get better. … Bradley works hard to get a rebound after an ISU miss, finally clears it, and Maniscalco fires too long and OB, going for the fast basket. …

Timeout at 11:45 — ISU 14, Bradley 10

All the coaches for both teams are in gym shoes today; part of the national Coaches vs. Cancer effort. …

Bradley steal and Maniscalco takes it the distance for a nice scoop under a flying Eldridge. … Another steal, this by DSE; can’t capitalize, though. … Fairly physical game, but the refs are mostly letting them play so far. … Bradley bad possession. Lots of perimeter dribbling and screening, but nobody cutting inside/low. Finally Maniscalco forces a guarded 3 against the clock. … Then the defense yields another post bucket. … Eddren McCain strolls onto the court with his right hand bandaged. He injured it a week or so ago in practice and hasn’t played since. … He plays some hustling D, pushes the pace on offense and overthrows Brown on the break. … McCain gets called for foul in the post, and the students do a routine with the band, chanting: “You can’t do that.” Points for that. Much better than the “You (commit sodomy)” chant they used to do. … Phillips beats McCain to the basket for a layup in the halfcourt. … Warren hits a 3 to keep Bradley hanging in. … Odiakosa escapes to get a thoroughly unmolested backdoor pass for a dunk. … Roberts drives, goes airborne with noplace to land or shoot and fires a bad pass that McCain tries to save but can’t because he slams into Pollard, the ref. …

Timeout at 6:15 — ISU 21, Bradley 16

Braves’ defense today is spotty, but not letting ISU get away too far.

Twice BU goes 1-3-1 zone; once gets a turnover, once a forced miss. … Bradley briefly ties the score on a 3 by Brown, but Eldridge unties. … And now Odiakosa flies between three Bradley guys for a rebound jam. That gets the crowd going, and now BU turns over, fast breaks and gets a second-chance off the miss. Rebound is good, and Les calls timeout again. … That went from a tie to a six-point spread in about 100 seconds. … Maniscalco hits a 3, his first; was just about to say the Redbirds are doing a good job defending him. … Austin Hill answers with a 3 for ISU. …

Timeout at 1:39 — ISU 30, Bradley 24

Braves already have nine turnovers; getting close to their full-game average. Most have been unforced, too.

The best thing you can say about the Braves right now is they’re not letting this game get out of hand. Need to keep it that way the rest of the half. … They go to a 1-3-1 again out of the timeout, and ISU seems confused again, so Tim Jankovich calls timeout. … More second-chance points for the Redbirds. That’s 12 so far; BU had been doing better on that front, but not today. … Now the Braves give up a backdoor. … Can’t get a good shot on the final possession.

Halftime — ISU 35, Bradley 26

Some stats: Bradley shooting 42.9 percent, ISU 44.1. … ISU owns the boards, 20-13, and 8-1 offensive. Birds up 12-0 on second-chance points and 22-4 in the paint. Bradley has owned the paint against opponents the past several games, but can’t get there today. Redbirds doing a good defensive job, and BU showing zero patience. … Bradley hanging around only because its defense is decent. Not real good, but decent. … Braves also have 9 turnovers, which have resulted in 11 points for ISU. Add it up: Two-thirds of ISU’s points are on second chances and BU turnovers. …

Brown has 8 points and Maniscalco 7. Egolf is scoreless. Warren has 5. Odiakosa has 11 for ISU, and Eldridge 10. Eight of nine Redbirds have at least one rebound.

Second half

Noteworthy: DSE starts the second half instead of Roberts. Bradley continues to struggle to get the ball inside with any kind of shot. … ISU scores twice in the post, so the paint pounding is up to 26-4. … This is on the verge of getting messy. … Egolf, frustrated, gets called for his third foul in the post. … Roberts replaces DSE at 17:27. … Phillips hits a 3, and Bradley turns it over again. … Braves finally get an ORB, and Warren quickly jacks a guarded 3; a line-drive miss. … The Braves can’t buy a basket anyplace, inside or out. …

Timeout at 15:30 — ISU 43, Bradley 27

Dude just won wings for the whole building; banked in his second half-court shot after swishing the 3, after the first one, either a layup or FT, I didn’t see. Big roar and standing O. Free wings! Woo-hoo!

Brown drives and gets his shot blocked. … ISU quick-shoots a long 3 and misses, and BU rebounds — and immediately turns it over again. The ball-handling is awful. … ISU getting inside at will, whether Will is in or not. Redbirds don’t always convert, but they’re getting there. … Just noting, we haven’t seen Jake Eastman today. Energy guy, no minutes. … And the Braves are broke on offense. They’re 0-for-9 to start the half. … Maniscalco finally breaks that cold streak with a tough drive, spin and mid-range jumper. … Singh and Roberts combine for an ORB, but Roberts can’t get the putback to fall. … Egolf returns. … Yet another backdoor pass and layup for ISU, combo’d with a foul on Egolf, who is just having one of those days. Tony Lewis rebounds the missed FT for ISU and puts it back to run the lead to 19 points. … Well, not everything is going right for the Birds: Rubin just missed a breakaway layup with nobody around him. …

Timeout at 11:28 — ISU 48, Bradley 29

Too early to say this one is over?

Bradley’s defensive effort has vanished. Very little resistance now. Wonder if they’ll regain some of that down the stretch. … Egolf back in, and he makes two FTs, meaning Bradley has four of those and two points off field goals this half. … Well, there was a spark of defensive energy. Manisalco harrasses Rubin all the way up the court, and then Brown forces Lewis to travel on the perimeter. … But Bradley immediately throws the ball away. … Warren gets outraced to a a rebound, but it goes off two ISU guys and OB. … Maniscalco trying to fire up the team, clapping, talking. … Braves in zone the past two possessions, this time a 1-3-1. … Forces an ISU turnover. … Pretty good return for BU on the 1-3-1. … But offensively … Yeesh! Brown runs down an ORB, and DSE finds an open path, drives to the paint — and whistles! Singh called for camping in the lane. DSE scores a fastbreak layup, Bradley’s second FG of the half, cutting the score to 48-35, and Janks calls time out for ISU. … Well, a little bit of fire by the Braves. …

Official timeout at 7:45 — ISU 48, Bradley 35

Bradley has been playing exclusive zone, trying to shut down the middle, but Odiakosa gets loose in the post and scores again. The Birds are up 32-6 in the paint now. … Warren hits a 3, cutting the margin to a dozen, and Les calls one of his “We score and I call timeout” timeouts. … More second-chance points — a 3 by Phillips, and the Birds are up 22-0 in that department now. … Now the ISU 3s are raining, as the Birds just whip the ball around the Bradley zone until they find a wide-open shooter; this time Eldridge. … The ISU students are chanting: “Go Home, Bradley!” … Best chant they’ve had all day. And they didn’t even have to hint at dirty words to do it. …

Now it’s “Drive Home Safely!” Impressive. Two chants in a row with no obscenities intended. …

DSE drives for a pair. Bradley 4-for-21 in second half. … And the life is gone. …

Eastman checks in. His right hand is wrapped, so maybe that’s why he hasn’t been in yet. Wouldn’t matter if he has only one hand now. This one is way over.

Timeout at 3:49 — ISU 60, Bradley 42

Singh goes for a steal of an entry pass and Odiakosa exploits him with a two-hand jam. …

Les puts in bench exiles Anthony Thompson and Milos Knezevic…. Thompson scores! A little stickback after an ORB. …

Time will run out, after yet another ISU offensive rebound. This has been a butt-kicking.

Final score — ISU 66, Bradley 47

Former Bradley standout guard Jeremy Crouch said Friday his injured foot hasn’t gotten much better and that his shortlived professional basketball career is over.

“I’m done,” said Crouch, who became Bradley’s director of basketball operations upon the sudden departure of assistant coach Steve Merfeld last month. “I’ve talked with Dr. (Mark) Phillips and he said it would probably continue to give me problems. So it’s time.”

Crouch played just one season with the New Yorker Phantoms of Braunschweig, Germany, averaging 4.0 points in an injury-plagued year.

“I’m starting my coaching career a little sooner than I thought,” he said, adding that he “loves” his new job.

Crouch is Bradley’s all-time leading 3-point shooter, connecting on 262 in his four-year career. He also holds the BU mark for single-season 3s with 118 and single-season 3-point percentage at .500, which tied for the best in Division I that year. He made 40.4 of his career 3-point attempts, ranking him seventh on the BU list.

Only Illinois State student tickets remain for Saturday afternoon’s Interstate 74 4:35 p.m. rivalry game against Bradley, an ISU ticket office employee said Thursday morning.

If those tickets are sold, this will become the first sellout this season in 10,200-seat Redbird Arena. ISU is averaging 6,169 this year with the Northern Iowa crowd of 7,755 the largest so far.

Illinois  State had four sellouts last season, averaging 7,118 at home.

Live from Carver Arena, where some Bradley cheerleaders are posing with smiles and pom-pons wagging, behind the Bradley TV crew of Frank Bussone and Dick Versace. Nothing like face time.

In the house tonight is Jim Hendry, GM of the Chicago Cubs. He’s an old Creighton guy. So, welcome, Jim.

For some pregame reading, you might check out Kyle Whelliston’s piece, “Valley Stories,” on his midmajority.com Website. Kyle was here for the Bradley-Missouri State game a couple of weeks ago. This has some nice thoughts about the different Valley programs and towns. Also, on Tuesday I did a Q & A with blueandwhitereview.com, a Website covering Creighton. They were the Q, I was the A. They posed some questions about the Bradley team and program that I’ve not been asked publicly. Most of it I’ve written about at some point over the past few years, but it can be interesting to pull evolving thoughts and observations into a single review.

I thought the hoopla over my colleague Dave Reynolds being named Illinois Sportswriter of the Year had subsided. Then I show up here tonight and he’s surrounded at our courtside seats by worshippers. Enjoy, Dave. You deserve it. Just give me enough room to plug in my laptop; that’s all I ask.

Game officials tonight are Scott Thornley, Randy McCall, Terry Oglesby.

I was starting to wonder about the White Out called for tonight. There were no white shirts draped over chairs as usually has been the case with color-coded nights. Apparently, they’re handing out shirts at the door, because people are carrying them in and donning them as I write.

Got a couple of things to do.

Starting lineup for Bradley: Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. Creighton goes with Justin Carter, Darryl Ashford, Kenny Lawson Jr., Antoine Young, Casey Harriman.

In case you were unaware, Creighton’s P’Allen Stinnett has been suspended indefinitely. … A sign being held up in the BU student section poses this question to CU coach Dana Altman: “Why Dana? P’Attitude? P’Drugs? Too P’Ugly?”

The White Out is more like a Red And White Out. Seems about half-and-half as far as people pulling on the white shirts. I see a lot holding on to them; others draped over chair backs or going in purses. … Crowd is a little smaller than what we’re used to when Creighton comes to town. Could be the record; CU having a very un-CU year. … The Bradley student section has a lot of empty seats, but the ones who are here seem wired. …

Tipoff to Creighton. … Egolf slips and loses Lawson, who dunks for the first points. … Roberts misses badly from 3 corner on Bradley’s first possession. … Yow! Versace just hollered. Roberts flew in to try to dunk a miss by Brown. That would’ve been spectacular; he went in high and hard, but missed the dunk. Got fouled. Missed the first FT and makes the second. … Wayne Runnells spins Egolf and scores and gets fouled. Runnells checked in while Roberts was shooting FTs. … In the opening two minutes, Creighton has a higher energy level than Bradley. … Now Sam Singh, in for Egolf, posts up and gets fouled. Uh-oh. FTs starting ugly tonight. Singh splits two, so instead of a tie we have a 4-2 game. … Bradley makes a good defensive stand, with a couple of deflections and then Warren getting a steal and drawing a foul. BU capitalizes with a layup by Brown. … Nice job by Brown to fake and draw a foul after a drive to the paint. Now he has to make FTs. He makes both. That’s better. …

Timeout at 15:26 — Creighton 10, Bradley 6

Creighton getting good ball movement and springing some open looks from 3. Made two so far. …Bradley has opened 1-for-7 from the floor, Creighton 4-of-8 with a pair of 3s. …

If you’re going to struggle on offense, you have can’t have defensive holes. Bradley has some problems at the beginning; just left another perimeter shooter wide open. … On top of that, some unfortunate bounces, like the ball that just bonked off Singh and OB. … Bradley struggling to solve Creighton’s mix of defenses, while Creighton is using good movement — ball and off ball — to get open shots. Singh fouls Lawson on the block and Lawson makes a pair. … Bradley now 1-for-10. … And Josh Jones makes Creighton’s third 3-pointer. … Now BU 1-for-11. … This is getting ugly. … Lawson hits a jumper just outside the elbow and Jim Les calls a timeout. Creighton up 17-6. … Hate to say this, but it’s looking like a too-typical Bradley-Creighton game of the past decade. The Jays have won 16 of the last 19 games in this series, which Bradley once led by a hefty margin. The series is now tied at 39 wins apiece. … Bradley 1-for-12. … Thoroughly bamboozled by Creighton’s defensive changes. …

Timeout at 11:49 — Creighton 17, Bradley 6

Terrible pass by Brown against the press: backwards and soft. Intercepted. Fortunately for BU, the Jays don’t score off it. … Bradley seems to be letting its offensive frustrations affect its defense. Can’t let that happen. … Warren pair of FTs, but they give it back on a backdoor lob. … Creighton really aggressive on defense, jumping lanes, arms up, hands working; lots of chatter and help. … Egolf a pair of FTs. … If not for those, BU would have zero offense. The Braves already have zero defense. … Creighton lighting it up, and now the Jays aren’t even having to work much to get open. The last two or three possessions have been one or two passes and an open look. …

Maniscalco gets a runout and scores BU’s second FG, and Altman comes unglued. … Now another one, and Jake Eastman goes hard and scores but it’s wiped out when he’s called for a charge. I had an obstructed view, but the crowd sure doesn’t like the call. … Egolf now gets called for a foul going over the back under the offensive board. The hometowners don’t like that one either, but this time, he did knock the guy down. He was aggressive, but he knocked the man down. … Altman ticked now that his guys don’t have their hands up on D. … Doesn’t matter, BU still can’t score. …

Timeout at 7:42 — Creighton 23, Bradley 12

Braves now 2-for-16, and the two makes are layups. … The best thing we can say right now is Creighton seems to be cooling off a little: 3-for-10 from the arc. Maybe gunning a little too quick. But it’s tempting to do that when the defense isn’t in your face. …

Bradley hanging around because it’s rebounding and getting to the FT line. That’s about it. Maniscalco makes a pair, and Bradley has 10 points at the FT line, four on layups, and zilch everywhere else. … Bradley is working hard on offense and coming up empty; need to work this hard on defense. … Warren finally hits a 3, then gets a steal and drives, misses his layup, gets his own  board and scores. Altman wants timeout. … Maybe that’s the spark Bradley needs. But the Braves still have to play D. … They’re down 25-19. …

Too much to ask. Ethan Wragge hits a 3 for the Jays, followed by Carter’s J. … And then a missed open 3 by Wragge. And I mean wiiiiiiddde open. … Bradley’s offense picking up, but the Braves have to stop this team. … Now Ashford hits a 3 as the shot clock runs out after a fairly good defensive stand. Fairly good, not great. Creighton lost a fair amount of time when one of their guys didn’t set up correctly and the play broke down badly. Altman, who’s right next to us, is just fed up. …

Timeout at 3:31 — Creighton 33, Bradley 25

Amazing BU hanging in as poor as the defense has been. … Thank you, free throws: Dyricus Simms-Edwards makes two more. … Now Bradley goes zone. … And Maniscalco lobs to Roberts backdoor for a thunderous slam. … Margin down to four points. … Great drive and no-look pass by DSE to Singh underneath. SS gets fouled, but misses both. Yells a profanity. BU gets the rebound, and Maniscalco drives to the paint and gets called for a charge. Lousy call. Lousy. The defensive man was sliding under him, and was awfully close to the imaginary box anyway, where it has to be a blocking foul. Even if not in the box, though, that was a block. Clearly. … Another foul on Creighton puts Brown at the line, and he makes both FTs. Still four-point game. … Nice ORB by Brown and putback, and the crowd is on its feet — until Jones hits a 3. … Warren answers, though, and Creighton will hold for the final shot of the half, up a pair. … Crowd finally into it here the last minute. … Jones, under pressure, gets off a very long 3 that looks good, but is a shade short and right, bounces away at the horn. …

Halftime — Creighton 38, Bradley 36

Bradley needs to have a prayer meeting at halftime and offer thanks for being in the game. … The defense must improve substantially in the second half, or this will turn into a loss. …

Where is security? A female fan just trotted across the middle of the court at halftime — just as the Extreme Team trampoline-dunking act was lining up its first run at the basket. Maybe that’s why they opened shaky, missing a couple. … the ET gets going and winds up with one little dude spinning about eight or ten revolutions ON HIS HEAD! Wonder how many brain cells that killed? …

Halftime stats: Bradley shooting 31.3 percent (that’s after making eight of its last 13 shots; Braves started 2-for-19). Creighton shooting 46.9 and has made 6 of 17 3-pointers. … Bradley 14-of-18 at the line, Creighton 2-of-3. … Bradley ruling the boards, 25-16 and is up 15-5 on second-chance points. Bradley also capitalizing on Creighton turnovers, with 11 points off seven Jays miscues. … Jones has 10 points for Creighton, Warren 10 for Bradley. … Singh has seven rebounds and Brown has five, to go with eight points. …

Second half

Bradley opens with visible defensive energy and a good post double on Lawson, but then lets Ashford get free down the baseline, and Brown has to foul him to prevent the layup. Splits the FTs. … Good offensive patience by BU leads to a Brown curl for a layup. … Tough non-call there. Good D by Bradley winds the clock, and Egolf gets bowled over on the baseline. No call. Now, if the bad charging call on less contact can be called against Bradley, how is this legit charge ignored entirely? … Now we have an up-and-down game, trading baskets. … Bradley much more aware on the double team in the post, but that leaves Young open for a 3, which he makes. …

Timeout at 15:34 — Creighton 49, Bradley 45

Roberts bricks two FTs. … Good D by Bradley, and the BU students give a bad shot-clock count that causes Carter to launch early, off balance and guarded. That was funny. … But BU loses track of Jones again, and he splashes from 3. … Warren answers. Got to stop the need to answer. … Nope: Witter a corner 3. … Power move by Singh and he scores. That was nice. …. Another tough break for BU under the Creighton basket. Ball pops off a BU player and hits the back side of the board, just before Singh grabs it. … Now Warren takes an ill-advised quick, moving 3 and misses. What was that about? … Now Wragge hits another 3, and Creighton is back up by eight. …

Timeout at 11:32 — Creighton 58, Bradley 50

Defenseless Braves tonight. Despite the lousy start, they’re scoring well enough to win, but they can’t stop anything Creighton’s doing with consistency. The Jays exploit whatever Bradley isn’t focusing on. …

We should have seen this coming. Creighton came in here last year with Booker Woodfox sidelined, and took the Braves apart. Now the Jays are here without Stinnett, and taking BU apart again. (That said, I think Stinnett’s absence might make this CU team better.) …

Excellent fastbreak by the Braves, but Creighton answers right quick with a 3-pointer, and Jake Eastman gets called for a foul trying to position for a rebound. The Jays get another possession and Carter scores again, this time inside. So after BU had cut to two points, the margin is back to seven in a flash. … Whoa! Bitchin’ rebound by Egolf. Gets by with the push for position, then rips the ball away from a Bluejays crowd and goes up for the power bucket. … Crowd comes alive with that. Bradley needs a surge now, and that surge has to include defensive stops. …

Bradley plays a little D and Brown scores. … Now Egolf pokes the dribble off a Bluejay and OB. …

Timeout at 7:53 — Creighton 65, Bradley 62

Here’s where Bradley has to start making some hay and toughen up. … Better D this time, with Bradley more showing post double so as not to lose the perimeter rotation. … But now the Braves have settled for a pair of 15-footers early in the clock. Missing. … And then they let Lawson dunk. … Now a charge on Maniscalco. … Lawson pulls down an ORB and gets fouled. Makes both and the lead is seven with the clock getting short. … Brown hits a 3, and that helps, although that’s not the shot you want: quick perimeter again. … Maniscalco flies in for a defensive board and gets fouled, but fewer called this half, so neither team is in the bonus. … Bradley needs to continue getting stops. That’s the only way the Braves have a chance.  … Braves need to burn a timeout to keep from losing the ball on a five-second inbounds count. …

Brown gets fouled off the ball and shoots bonus situation, but misses. Can’t have that. … Maniscalco steals and gets breakaway layup to get the crowd on its feet howling. … Roberts blocks a shot inside. …

Timeout at 3:35 — Creighton 69, Bradley 67

I will say it again: Bradley needs stops. Not one. Not two. Several. … There’s one. …

Roberts gets an open path to the basket, but gets blocked just before launch for a dunk. … Not necessarily the guy you want at the line, though. Needs to make these. … One down, second misses. One-point game. …

Stop No. 2. … And Warren makes a bad pass, forcing to the middle. He had made a great decision in transition to pull out, then suddenly tried to jam a pass to Brown on the cut and got picked. … Told you they’d need several stops to get this done. …

Egolf fouls Lawson in the post. Lawson is money at the line, and it’s a three-point game again. … Inside two minutes. Egolf misses a FT jumper badly. … Creighton runs clock. … Both teams miss a 3. … Inside a minute now. … Creighton calls time at :49.2. …

Bradley gets a stop, but winding down, and Warren settles for a quick 3, and CU rebounds with 15 seconds left. … Now a Bradley foul. … Why are fans leaving? Bradley rebounds the missed FT. … Missed 3 by Maniscalco and a foul, and now Creighton will win this game if the Jays hit the FT. Carter makes the first, and his mates clear the lane. …

Final score — Creighton 73, Bradley 68

There we go again. You cannot play like this and lose home games this way and be anything but mediocre.

Getting a late start today. Working with a new laptop, you know. Delays getting connected. First date with this keyboard, and so far she’s a little reticent. Either that, or I am losing my touch.

Anyway, first the news: Bradley guard Eddren McCain won’t play today. He’s in street clothes after injuring his right hand Friday in practice. Edge, like the team, has been playing better of late. His backing up Sam Maniscalco at the point will be missed some; especially his ability to hawk the ball on defense.

The refs are Mike Sanzere, Gene Grimshaw and John Moore. I know a number of fans aren’t enamored of Mike Sanzere, but the man has done a lot of NCAA games, including a Final Four.

Gotta love The Mule, Evansville coach Marty Simmons. That’s one big boy. Looks like a dude who drives semi-trailers for a living, bowls five nights a week and would be fun to throw down some Bud with. And one of his assistants is Ben Wierzba, former Farmington High star and son of the longtime, now retired head coach there, Tom Wierzba. Tom is in the house today, right behind the Evansville bench.

Bradley start’s the same five: Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. Evansville goes with Kavon Lacey, Colt Ryan, James Haarsma, Denver Holmes, Clint Hopf.

Tipoff coming up …

Bradley goes into Egolf in the post on first possession, and he bangs, but can’t get the shot to go down. Good strong effort, though. … He gets beaten by Hopf in like fashion at the other end. … Back and forth pace to start. Neither team converting. On fourth possession, Maniscalco hits Brown on a cut in the paint, and TB gets fouled. FTs tie the game at 2. … oops. Bradley loses Holmes off a screen in the middle and he gets a short jumper to bank in. … Roberts hits a 3 for the Braves after a nice sequence with some sharp passing. … But now after a steal, Roberts goes 1-on-2-and-a-half men and misses the short J under pressure, not waiting for his trailer. Dyricus Simms-Edwards gets off the bench for BU, and Jim Les is disgustedly waving him to check in. …

Timeout at 15:11 — Evansville 6, Bradley 5

Both teams bringing effort to start, but the play is pretty ragged. …

DSE and Sam Singh enter; Singh for Egolf. … Brown scores off inbounds play for the Braves. … Great play: DSE and Singh a little two-man game, both cutting to the basket, DSE with the ball and dumps to Singh right underneath for a layup. … Tough defensive break. Bradley makes Evansville run out the clock and launch a long 3 at the buzzer, but it’s so far off the mark, it goes backboard-rim, high and long and UE gets another shot — Aces miss, though, and Maniscalco hits a 3 in transition for Bradley. … Simmons calls time with the Braves up 12-6. … Egolf and Roberts back for BU, replacing Warren and Singh. … Wow — Bradley struggles through the clock and the ball winds up near halfcourt with four seconds left. Brown drives it and dishes to Maniscalco, whose 3-pointer splashes with the buzzer sounding. Great hustle and awareness. … Strong rebound by Egolf, who has three boards now. …

Timeout at 10:52 — Bradley 15, Evansville 6

Bradley out of the timeout, Egolf lob to Roberts for the thunder dunk. Leaves the board shaking. … Bradley has been consistently good out of timeouts most of the season. … Maniscalco playing another tough game. Just scored again on a nice pull-up in the lane, then poked the ball from Lacey twice on the dribble. … Good sequence again, with hard penetration by the Braves gets an open look and bucket. … Now in transition, and Egolf gets the ball behind the backboard, but makes strong move to score it and get fouled. Completes the three-point play, and BU is up 14 points. … Another strong home start. Let’s see if they continue to step on the Aces’  throats the rest of the game. Did that against Missouri State a week ago. Need to do it again. …

Timeout at 7:40 — Bradley 24, Evansville 12

Couple of shaky defensive sequences for BU. … Followed by a good offensive stand with a hard lefty drive by Egolf. … There was a heady play by Jake Eastman making eye contact with Roberts in transition. Eastman crossing midcourt and throws a bounce pass between two defenders on the move; Roberts picked up his pace on the wing after seeing Eastman’s eyes and caught the ball in stride and got to the basket before getting fouled. He makes both FTs. … Evansville has been able to get some open perimeter looks the last couple of minutes, though. BU needs to adjust there. …

Pretty good crowd. looks to be about 10,000, maybe a tad under. … After reviewing the monitors, the refs just gave Warren credit for a 3. That was a tough shot with a man in his face as the clock wore down. … Aces are matching, though. … Warren hits a 3 in transition now. … But Evansville answers in like fashion. …

Timeout at 1:40 — Bradley 36, Evansville 27

Braves making their FTs today. Shouldn’t have written that. Roberts just missed one and so they’re 8-of-9 now. … Bradley puts up another defensive stand that makes Evansville rush at the clock. Had some strong ones like that in the first 10 minutes; fewer since, so that was good to see a return. … Maniscalco scores again at the elbow, and the Aces will hold for the final shot of the half. … all they get is a 30-plus-foot 3-point attempt that crashes into the backboard. …

Halftime — Bradley 39, Evansville 27

A number of recent ex-Braves in the house today: Phil Gilbert, Marcello Robinson, Reggie Hall, Michael Stewart, Daniel Ruffin, Danny Adams. …

Some quickie halftime stats: Bradley shooting 56.5 percent, holding Evansville to 39.3. Bradley up 16-13 on the boards. Bradley limited to 8 points in the paint today, but the Braves are 5-of-6 from the 3 line. … Maniscalco has 10 points, Roberts and Warren 8 each. Egolf has 7 and 4 rebounds. Singh has 2 and 1 board. Brown 4 and 4. …

Brown gets two quick fouls to start the half. First is offensive. Second one, he bangs into an Evansville cutter while following his own man. Les is giving Moore the biz. … Egolf flies in to rebound an airball by Warren and put it in. Really aggressive, nice play. … And there’s Brown’s fourth foul, third in 90 seconds to start the second half. He’s not happy. Les is not happy. …

Braves miss a DSE-to-Egolf lob. … Lacey springs down Main Street for a layup. Evansville has come out strong and aggressive, and Bradley not responding particularly well. Les calls time with the lead 41-32. Good decision. Braves a little out of sorts. Should know by now, you have to come out punching to start the second half; can’t let yourself get punched. That’s how they lost three home games in a row. …

Bradley turnover. Two already this half after four the entire first. … Now another turnover. … But this time, Egolf steals the ball back, starts transition and Maniscalco scores on the drive, going left. …

Timeout at 15:36 — Bradley 43, Evansville 34

I learned at halftime that PA man Paul Herzog was in danger of not making the game today. He was down in Florida, playing some golf this week. Friday, he got on a plane to come back, but the plane wasn’t able to land in Peoria because of fog, so it was sent back to Atlanta. All the way back to Atlanta! What? Can’t find someplace closer to go? He got back this morning. This information, courtesy of my own parents, Max and Ardith Wessler, who were recreating at Disney World all week and had the same flight back. …

Back to the action. …  Bradley runs the margin back to double digits with a pair of nice plays. First, DSE hits a tough shot out of the offense. Then Maniscalco steals the ball just outside the Evansville lane and takes it to the other end for another transition layup. Sammy is really playing well lately. … Simmons needs a timeout. … Excellent pass from Eastman to a cutting Egolf, who gets too far under and can’t get the shot down. Great patience and vision by Eastman, and a soft delivery, but Egolf was moving too hard to catch and convert. … Egolf a block under the UE basket. … Braves have picked up their defense since the under-16 timeout, and the offense is following suit. … Of course, Ryan gets open and hits a 3. … Maniscalco answers; playing excellent ball all over the court. …

Timeout at 11:33 — Bradley 53, Evansville 40

Eastman with a strong putback. That kid plays his butt off all the time. … Now he gets a deflection and steal under the UE basket. … Evansville’s defense certainly is making Bradley work to get to the paint. … Egolf scores from just outside the free-throw line. Nice softy. As he establishes his ability to make that shot, opponents have to come out and guard him. More versatile weapon. … Now he blocks a shot; his fourth. … He comes out, Brown in, and Brown goes to the floor for a loose ball, then hits a 17-footer and Bradley is up by 17. … Simmons has to call another timeout. Can’t wait for the under-8. …

Timeout at 7:19 — Bradley 59, Evansville 42

Evansville comes out of the timeout and scores, then presses, turns the Braves over and scores again. … Now a BU turnover in the halfcourt, a UE basket by Ryan and the lead is back down to 11. Les wants time before this gets ridiculous. …

Egolf extends BU possession with an ORB. … Needed that. … Braves don’t capitalize, but hold UE and score on the next possession. … Ugly there, giving up second-chance points to the Aces. Now a turnover, and this is still not closed out. …

Timeout at 3:59 — Bradley 61, Evansville 50

Bradley treading some interesting turf here. The Braves haven’t yielded 60 points in their last three games, a streak equaling several efforts over the years. Just did a quick check, and it appears there hasn’t been a four-game streak of that accomplishment since the late 1990s.  …

Maniscalco saves an easy basket by the Aces with a steal and hits Brown behind the defense for a transitition layup. … Egolf hits the deck hard, getting run over by Lacey on a drive to the basket. Bucket good, no whistles. Egolf comes out a little shaken. … Brown drives it hard to the bucket for a pair. … Bradley maintaining. … Warren fouls and sends Holmes to the line. He makes 2 FTs and it’s 65-56. … Now Singh misses a contested layup in a 3-on-2 BU advantage. … Inside the two-minute mark, and Bradley spreads. … Run the clock, Brown misses a 3, but Singh taps the rebound out to Warren, and now the Aces have to foul. Twice, because BU not in the bonus yet. … Finally, Warren to the line for the one-and-one: He makes both. … Lacey misses a drive, and Brown rebounds. As long as Bradley makes FTs, this game is on ice with 1:07 left. … Brown misses, but Warren rebounds and gets fouled, so he will have a chance to make FTs. … He makes both. …

Looks like there’s going to be just enough scoring down the stretch to keep the Braves from holding four consecutive opponents under 60. … Yup. Lacey hits a 3 with 44 seconds left. Bradley up 70-61. And as long as the Braves hang on, there will be free steaks at the Lariat for ticketholders; the famous 2-for-1 deal kicked in when the Braves reached 68, I think it was today. …

Bradley plays aggressively on the perimeter, and the Aces can’t get a 3 look in any sort of rhythm. … Play out the string. … Evansville keeps fighting and fouling. Lacey fouls out hacking Maniscalco. The BU students serenade his stroll to the bench: “Left-right, left-right, left-right” in cadence with his steps, slowing and speeding according to his pauses. Then: “Sit down!” Very funny.

Final score — Bradley 74, Evansville 64

Bradley reserve guard Eddren McCain injured his right hand in practice Friday and will not dress for Saturday’s Missouri Valley Conference game against Evansville.

McCain, averaging 2.1 points and 2.0 assists this season, hurt himself when his hand became entangled with a teammate during a halfcourt scrimmage.

His status was unknown prior to the game.

I’d like to extend a hearty thank you for all of the congratulatory messages –electronic or in-person – sent me following my selection as the NSSA co-winner of the Illinois Sportswriter of the Year.

I’m truly honored by the recognition and plan to attend the awards banquet with my wife in May. Just as humbling has been the outpouring of well wishes from friends, family, Journal Star readers, co-workers and acquaintances. I’ll continue to try thanking you all individually, but if I miss somebody, please accept this thank you for your thoughtfulness.

I’d especially like to thank my wife, Linda, for her support, Dave Snell for nominating me, Kirk Wessler for writing such a flattering column about me, Bradley University for some very considerate gestures and my family and friends for all of your kind words.

It’s been a humbling few days. Going forward, I hope to continue providing all of you with the coverage you deserve on the Bradley Braves and other sports news.

                                                                                        – Dave Reynolds