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