Seven days later, we’re back at it: same teams, a Saturday afternoon game. Different venue this time. We’re live at Carver Arena today, and Bradley will try to get back in the “win” column after losing two in a row.

Crowded day at the Peoria Civic Center. The annual St. Jude’s Gymnastics and Tumbling Meet is here all weekend, and the place is flipping out with kids doing their thing and their parents watching. … Speaking of St. Jude’s, Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy and his wife, SherryAnn, are the honorary Braves coaches today. McCoy has been a longtime supporter of St. Jude’s, and has volunteered countless hours to help raise funds. He is particularly active in the annual run from Memphis to Peoria. Those efforts earned him the 2010 Neve Harms Award for meritorious public service to sports in the Peoria area; he’ll receive the award March 14 at the Greater Peoria Area Sports Hall of Fame induction luncheon. … Anyway, McCoy this will be the 11th consecutive year McCoy has been an honorary coach, and the Braves are 10-0 in his previous stints. So get your bets down now? …

The officials today are Randy Heimerman, Don Daily and Bobby Vetkoetter. It’s Saturday. …

Birthday shout out to my dad, Max Wessler. Fifty years ago today, he celebrated by taking me with him to the Bradley-Cincinnati game at Robertson Field House. The Braves, led by Chet Walker and, Bobby Joe Mason, beat the Bearcats and all-time great Oscar Robertson, 91-90. When BU celebrated its basketball centennial a few years ago, that game was voted by Bradley fans as the greatest in program history. …

As for today … You can’t talk about this one without mentioning the shellacking Mo State put on the Braves in Springfield last week. That prompted me to write this column. Bradley followed with better effort, start to finish, on Tuesday at UNI, but lost 52-50. The talk after that game was about building on that effort. If the Braves do that, they can salvage this season and still have something to boast other than the Thanksgiving Weekend win over Illinois. If not — let’s not go there right now. Plenty of time for meltdowns in the fan base later. …

Not sure which BU team will show up today. For that matter, not sure which BU team will appear (or not) in the second half, which has been a real problem at home. Bradley lost three straight at home, blowing double-digit leads in each,  before finally winning one here against Indiana State on Jan. 6. That one also featured a double-digit lead blown in the second half, but BU rallied to win in OT. I have no idea what to expect today. Guess that’s part of what makes sports fun, eh? (Sorry about the “eh,” but there’s a hockey game here tonight, so I gotta get in the mood.)

Back in a bit. …

OK, the special guest today is Bally, the amazing cartoon basketball conceived by midmajority.com’s own Kyle Whelliston. And Kyle is here, too.

Here’s Bally:

Bally, the official basketball of midmajority.com, takes a seat on the Jerk Alert, courtside at the Bradley-Missouri State game on Jan. 16.

Waiting for the lineups. …

Bradley goes with Sam Maniscalco, Chris Roberts, Andrew Warren, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. Missouri State goes with Kyle Weems, Will Creekmore, Aaron Fuehrmeyer, Jermaine Mallett and Adam Leonard.

A few BU students in the house tonight. Semester break ends this weekend, but the bulk of the student section is still non-students and likely a quiet group. …

Tipoff coming up. …

Leonard springs free off a screen and scores a top-key 3 for Mo State to start the scoring. … Bradley goes post to Brown for a turnaround J. … 3-2. … Roberts gets a steal and runout, can’t make the layup, but Brown follows with the tip. … Brown crashes the offensive glass again and gets fouled on the putback. This is more like the Brown we saw early in the season: nose for the ball, relentless pursuit. He splits the FTs and Roberts gets Bradley’s third ORB. … Now he gets the fourth and puts it back in. … Now a good D stand that results in a jumball, which will go BU’s way after …

Timeout at 15:36 — Bradley 7, Mo State 4

Eddren McCain and Sam Singh enter the game for BU, replacing Egolf and Maniscalco. … McCain has a new hairstyle, kind of rising off the right side of his head. … Brown 3s from the corner and Bradley is up 12-4. … By this time last week, Weems had every Mo State point, and that was about 10 or 12 already. So far today, he has barely touched the ball, and now he comes out for a sub at 14:18. … McCain pushes the ball for BU and whips a pass underneath to Brown, who gets fouled going for a layup. Bradley playing well on both ends; good energy. … Defensive pressure extending 40 feet from the basket, and it forces a Mo State turnover. …

Another ORB for the Braves after a missed 3 by Warren. … Dyricus Simms-Edwards in for BU now, and Egolf is back, along with Maniscalco. … Mo State scores on a 3 by  Caleb Patterson. …

Timeout at 11:52 — Bradley 14, Mo State 7

Whelliston just challenged me to guess which three ZOOPerstars! will appear at halftime. If I guess correctly, I guess a free one-year subscription to Basketball State. … I’m checking it out. …

BU leads 18-9 after my little study break. … Teams are just trading baskets right now; defense has vanished. Egolf goes untouched in the lane for a layup. … BU up 20-11. … Nice dish around the defense on the block, from Brown to Egolf for another layup. … Weems finally gets off his first shot, misses a 3. … Last week at this point (9:11), he had 22 points. … Now Egolf cuts very hard to the basket, loses his balance and still scores. Really strong move. … Weems misses and BU breaks, with Brown hitting a pullup J to go up 26-11. … Cuonzo Martin has seen enough and calls time out for Mo State. …

Timeout at 7:52 — Bradley 26, Mo State 13

Creekmore just spun Egolf in the post and scored and got fouled to get to the official break. …

As for ZOOperstars! … I’m guessing Harry Canary, Mackerel Jordan and Jeff Gordog.

In the game, BU owns the glass, 15-6, including 6-2 offensive, which has resulted in a 7–0 edge in second-chance points. Last week, BU got outscored 24-4 on the offensive boards. …

Now Maniscalco curls and drives hard for a scoop layin. … Bradley pounding the ball to the paint, either off the drive or with sharp entry passes to cutters and post-ups. … Singh at the line now for a pair, which he splits. … Braves 3-of-6 at the line so far. … Warren picks up his second foul with 6:44 left in the half, but he’s not coming out. … Two more ORBs by the Braves. They are relentless this half. … Roberts excellent spin move into the lane for a scoop, which he makes. Everything clicking for BU. Another ORB, by Brown, who hits Maniscalco at the point, and Sammy drains the 3. …

Timeout at 3:39 — Bradley 34, Mo State 19

At the previous timeout, the layup-3-halfcourt contest dunked the layup! I think it was BU redshirt Jordan Prosser’s younger brother, Josh. Looked a lot like him, but we all have dopplegangers. …

Egolf stuffs a jumper attempt by Weems on the perimeter. Just stuffed him. Wowish play. … Now McCain makes a nice move to the bucket and scores. … Jake Eastman just got by with an illegal screen. Kinda went head-hunting there. … Now McCain drives base and scores again. Braves clicking. … 

BU runs for a final play, and Egolf gets smeared by two guys going up underneath. A little ball and a ton of arm and body. No whistle. Jim Les is furious, but all he’ll get from the refs is a shake of the head and a shrug. … Bad no-call. But …

Halftime — Bradley 38, Mo State 23

I strike out on the ZOOperstars!. They bring out LeBronco James, Yao Flamingo, and Alex Frogriguez.

Ceremony to induct the newcomers to the Bradley Hall of Fame. The class is baseball player Nelson Correa, soccer player Jim Rasmussen and Dave Snell, who has been doing Braves play-by-play on tradio since 1979. Snell gets the prolonged standing ovation. Congrats, all. …

Stats: Bradley up 25-14 in rebounds and 12-2 in second-chance points. Bradley shooting 51.6 percent to Mo State’s 31. Bradley rules points in paint, 20-10. … Brown has 12 points and 9 rebounds; responding to whatever fire was lit under him. Maniscalco has 7 points, Egolf 6, and Roberts, Warren and McCain 4 apiece. … Mo State topped by Leonard’s 6. …

Second half coming up …

Mo State comes out with fire and gets a couple of ORBs, but can’t convert. … Roberts sticks a 3 on BU’s first possession of the half. … High-low from Warren to Egolf. Nice play. … Maniscalco drives, misses and goes headlong into the photo/ballboy gallery. … Nice pick-and-roll, Roberts hits the roll by Egolf for another layup. … Mo State hanging in with some open made shots. … Turnover by Mo State and a breakaway layup by Maniscalco puts BU up 17 until a 3 by Mo State. … That kind of half: trading baskets. … Now a 3 by Roberts and Les immediately calls timeout, even though the next dead ball will be an official break. Count me among those who don’t understand why he calls time in these situations nine of 10 times. Once in 10, it can be obvious. But the other night at UNI, Les did this and he ultimately ran out of timeouts late in a two-point game. I get that BU’s defense has started a little soft this half, but the lead has still been expanded, and you’re going to get a free timeout very shortly. … Whatever. …

And there’s the timeout, 16 seconds later. Doink.

Timeout at 15:01 — Bradley 50, Mo State 33

Singh gets stuck in the post and travels. … Mo State’s defense has picked up, but Singh grabs an ORB and now Maniscalco gets fouled going to the basket. … Refs give Les a warning for protesting too much. Must have been something the refs missed. … Now a T on the Bradley bench after Singh misses a layup. There’s a water bottle on the floor; not sure who threw it out there, but it gets the T. … That was a great pass by DSE to Singh; can’t believe the bunny got blown. …

Timeout at 11:54 — Bradley 54, Mo State 37

Stagnation for a couple of minutes, and then DSE goes strong to the hoop and scores. … Bradley not letting its foot slip off the pedal today. … Warren a 3 out of the offensive set, and the lead is at 19 points. … Braves continue to go hard to the paint and to the basket. Eastman fouled. He splits the pair. … Brown is much more aggressive defensively today, although he is strangely without a rebound in the second half. … McCain loses the ball off his leg in the backcourt and it goes OB. …

Timeout at 7:23 — Bradley 64, Mo State 48

Leonard hits a 3 in the set play, and Mo State has the makings of a little run. … Roberts stalks Leonard and blocks a 3-point attempt and corrals the ball. Roberts is playing better than I’ve seen him play since before Christmas. … There’s Brown’s 10th rebound, an ORB that leads to a second-chance bucket by him off a pass from Roberts. Pretty play off hard work. …

Timeout at 3:51 — Bradley 68, Mo State 51

Looks like the Braves are going to win this one. Turn the corner? Still don’t know. But they haven’t let this one get away. … The opposite of one week ago, when Bradley didn’t make any dent of significance in the Missouri State advantage, the Braves this time aren’t letting the Bears close the gap. Just grinding away. … Another ORB, this one by Warren off a missed 3 by Roberts. AW gets fouled and extends the lead to 21 points with his FTs. … DSE blocks a fastbreak layyup; that’s about half a dozen blocks by the Braves today. … The fans are liking this.

Les is smiling. Fans on their feet. Bench empties: Milos Knezevic, Ryan Phillips, Anthony Thompson all in the game.

Final score — Bradley 74, Missouri State 56