PRE-GAME

A very first-day of school feel to Carver Arena today. Everybody catching up  with each other after seven months away.

The same thing is true of the Braves today as well, at least on the public stage after their closed scrimmage with DePaul last weekend. They’ll learn something, but at the moment nobody is quite sure what that is or how it will play out down the road as the season unfolds.

11:23 left first half

Not a lot to write home about in the early going for the Braves. Will Egolf picked up two fouls early. Anthony Thompson made a nice block on a baseline drive but after batting the ball around on teh glass a few times, Lewis’s Marty Strus finally tipped it in for a 4-0 lead. It wasn’t until Chris Roberts got to the  line was Bradley able to get on the board.

Maybe it’s the Sunday start but Carver Arena sounds like a church. Quiet. The loudest its been was when Andrew Warren came off the bench at teh 13:44 mark and then hit a 3-pointer less then a minute later to Bradley briefly on top 7-6 before Lewis came right back and scored.

There’s way too much drive and kick in the Bradley offense at the moment, which is fine when Warren and Maniscalco are on the floor to finish. But in the first five minutes that wasn’t there and the Braves were held without a field goal.

3:27 left first half

Sam Singh checked in with 8:49 left in the half sporting long sleeves underneath his jersey.

Bradley still struggled to get anything going offensively. They were shooting 3-for-13 at the officials’ time out at 7:.59. At that point, too Lewis assistant coach Condric Sanders asked Dave Reynolds on press row how many 3s the Flyers had taken (1-for-7).  We think since they only took 16 shots total, that seven chances might be too many.

Lewis coach Scott Trost called out for “Iverson” to be run. Which of course makes one wonder if they’ve practiced that play.

Bradley finally came alive on the offensive boards getting two off the glass before Taylor Brown was finally able to finish. Brown scored the last six Bradley points to put them on top 22-21 at the time out.

Halftime: Lewis 29, Bradley 27

It’s only 20 minutes of the only exhibition game of the season, but its tough picking out things to like so far.

The first (maybe only?) was the play of Taylor Brown. He added a spark late in the half, but it wasn’t picked up on by his teammates.

Dyricus Simms-Edwards played the final three minutes of the half and hit a 3.  Jordan Prosser played the final 1:24 of the half.

At the start of the game, the Braves seemed awfully small on the floor and trouble rebounding did little to prove the impression false.

The offense was a lot better with Maniscalco and Warren on the floor together.

The defense got caught at the buzzer when they cut off the drive, but Chris McClellan was able to hit a 3 at the buzzer for the two-point Lewis lead at the half.

14:49 left in the second half

Andrew Warren looks like his old self with a game high 17 points includig eight of Bradley’s 11 so far in the second half. This is a big first test for him coming off the injury. It’s one thing to handle practices and workouts but the big confidence builder tends to come after live game action.

Still not much in the way of flow to the second half. Everytime BU looks like its ready to pull away,  Lewis responds.

8:39  left in the second half

The Braves are letting the Flyers hang around, which is not a good thing.  Dodie Dunson does a nice job getting to the basket and getting fouled, but Milos Knezevic steps into the lane too early to negate the 3-point play.

The Braves force a shot-clock violation, up 48-43, but Eddren McCain gets whistled for a technical at 9:34. David Bryant missed both free throws to keep it a five-point game until Andrew Warren comes in with a basket and forces Lewis to call timeout. Maybe now, the Braves will be able to open up the score.

Final: Bradley 68, Lewis 63

Bradley did open the game, maybe not to the greatest comfort level after Lewis closed the gap in the final two minutes when Bradley had four freshmen and Dodie Dunson on the floor.

Bradley did a much better job rebounding in the second half which limited Lewis’s chances.Although if it can do that against more physical Valley teams will be a question to be answered later.

The Braves also took advantage at the line, which a team is supposed to do in games like this as well although the free throw attempts weren’t all that much greater in number while the game was in doubt.

Andrew Warren is healthy, as proven by his 21 points. Taylor Brown will be as exciting as advertised.

So for now a wait-and-see verdict is about the best that can be decided from this one.