Press Row

Bradley freshman guard Darian Norris, who was released from the program on April 1, is planning to transfer to Salt Lake (Utah) Community College.
This past season, SLCC was 31-6 and won the national NJCAA championship last month at Hutchinson, Kan., beating Midland (Texas) 67-60.
“I’d noticed a little bit of a change (in Norris) lately, but I wasn’t sure what it was,” said BU coach Jim Les. “I was surprised (at his decision to leave BU).”
The 5-11 Norris played in 35 of Bradley’s 36 games, averaging 3.5 points.

Jake Eastman, the 6-foot-4 guard who orally committed to Bradley 12 days ago, is expected to sign his National Letter of Intent with the school on Thursday.
Eastman, a senior at Douglas Freeman High School in Richmond, Va., will wait until the second day of the spring signing period so his father, Boston Celtics assistant coach Kevin Eastman, can be present at the signing ceremony held at the high school.
The younger Eastman, who averaged 16 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists last season, is expected to be the lone BU signee this week. Bradley has one scholarship remaining to give for the 2009-10 season. 

Washington High School all-state guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards has narrowed his college list to Bradley, Northern Iowa and Kansas State, the guard told the Journal Star this week.
Simms-Edwards has not yet made any official visits and doesn’t plan to make his decision until later this month or the first of May. The first day that National Letters of Intent can be signed during the spring period is April 15. The period lasts until May 15.
After receiving an oral commitment from 6-foot-4 Jake Eastman of Richmond, Va., this week and losing freshman guard Darian Norris to the transfer route, Bradley has one scholarship remaining to give.

As a member of the board of directors for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, I was invited to a rather intimate event Thursday night at a restaurant in the Renaissance Center in Detroit. No formal agenda; just good food and good basketball talk with other basketball writers from around the country and … Oscar Robertson. Among the postseason honors bestowed by the USBWA membership is the Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Award, which this season we gave to Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin. That formality occurred this morning at a breakfast.

Last night, though, was laid back and chatty. At one point, we were all lamenting the Final Four layout at Ford Field, where the court will be in the middle of the football field. More than 70,000 people will watch in person, but an intimate gathering, this is not. One of the writers noted the attempt to improve sightlines by installing a raised floor, the mention of which raised Oscar’s eyebrows. “Like Bradley,” he said.

I laughed. “The Field House is gone now. Torn down,” I told him.

“Good!” he said.

For the curious in our midst, we had to do a little explaining. Some didn’t realize Cincy had once been in the Missouri Valley and Bradley had been a hot rival in the 1950s and ‘60s. Only a couple had been to Robertson Field House, the beloved arena on the Bradley campus in which, I noted, “Oscar was 0-for-3.” He took it well, by which I mean he didn’t leap across the table, roll me into a little ball and look for a trash can in which to dunk me. He actually smiled, and then he explained: “We were homered.”

Ooooo! The tension mounts. People are lined up, waiting for the doors to open. There are games in the Civic Center ticket lobby. Former Bradley basketball player and NFL veteran Marcus Pollard just arrived with his old classmate and financial advisor, Jeff Doeden, an ex-BU baseballer. Just found out that former Kentucky all-America Kyle Macy will be on the TV announcing crew. Of course, there will probably be more people in the house tonight than who have the required premium services on their TVs in the metro area.

The championship game of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament will tip off in one hour. Stay tuned.

Still 13 minutes till lineup time, and the kids are already ringing the floor. Definitely a better vibe tonight than for the first three rounds.

Starting lineups just went up on the scoreboard. For Bradley: Eddren McCain, Sam Maniscalco, Theron Wilson, David Collins, Chris Roberts. For ODU: Darius James, Gerald Lee, Frank Hassell, Marsharee Neely, Ben Finney.

Pollard was standing in the corridor outside the BU locker room when the Braves took the floor. Slapped hands with each of the players before they headed into the arena. Just before that Sam Singh was doing some extra stretching. I was talking to BU associate athletics director Craig Dahlquist, when Singh looked at us and said, “Can you do this?” He then went beyond toe touch and put both hands flat on the floor without bending his knees.

“Long arms,” Dahlquist said.

Yeah, like our age has nothing to do with our inflexibility.

My seat tonight, due to all the TV equipment and extra media, is in the end zone, in front of the Bradley students. And they just got invaded by a couple of enthusiastic ODU guys, faces painted blue and white, enough Mardi Gras beads to choke a squirrel, little antenna balls flipping around on their heads. The Bradley guys good-naturedly evicted them.

And the Monarchs have brought their mascot. Big lion king with a crown and a road jersey. He has no competition. Bradley has no mascot. Now, we’ve been down this road before, but I still think Bradley should use a squirrel, all painted up and kilted, and call him Braveheart. As it is, BU has forfeited the mascot battle tonight.

Just about time for the National Anthem, then the lineups. Buzzer sounds, teams clear the floor.

Tipoff, coming up …

And it’s batted OB. Bradley ball.

A Wilson to Roberts backdoor lob for a dunk gets the Braves up 2-0 and the crowd in full roar. ODU ties it on a rebound bucket I couldn’t see because the cheerleaders were in the way. No big. Collins on the other end gets fouled going for a dunk. Makes both FTs.

BU gets a couple of turnovers and can’t capitalize. Hassell gets his second rebound basket. Then Finney commits his second foul trying to stop Collins, who is going hard to the basket tonight. Collins makes one of two, and BU is up 5-4. Now a steal and layup by Maniscalco.

TIMEOUT AT 15:52—Bradley 7, ODU 4

Bradley’s opening defense is very good. ODU is probing, trying to find a way inside and not finding much. Its only two baskets so far are on putbacks—one off an airball. The Monarchs alread have three turnovers, two being steals by Bradley. Like I said, too, Collins so far is going hard to the basket. Twice he was fouled, once he was cut off and wisely backed out. That’s a good sign. Big boy came to play his final game as a Brave.

ODU in a zone out of the timeout, and Sam Singh finds Maniscalco with a baseline to point pass for a 3. A stop on defense, and transition. Maniscalco bottoms another 3, and coach Blaine Taylor wants a TO for ODU. Bradley up 13-4.

Bradley pressures the inbounds play and gets a steal, but Roberts gets carried away and dribbles OB.

Now ODU forced to call a timeout to prevent a five-second call. Bradley defense continues to be aggressive and tight.

Neely hits a 3 for ODU, but Darian Norris answers for Bradley off another Singh assist. Bradley commits its first turnover, with the shot clock winding down and Norris trapped in the corner, playing catch with Maniscalco along the sideline. A strange back-and-forth. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish. Ball goes OB.

TIMEOUT AT 11:32—Bradley 18, ODU 11

Like I said, that was Bradley’s first turnover. The Braves have yet to be called for their first foul. ODU has been called for only three, so we don’t hear any complaining yet from the ODU sideline. Maybe nobody there has noticed. It’s not really a discrepancy. Two of the fouls were on the shooter underneath, and the third was a blocking foul where Maniscalco got a shoulder in the face.

There’s the first foul. Roberts takes a fake and falls on the driver. On the extension, Neely hits another 3.

Very nice offensive rebound by Taylor Brown for Bradley. That on a second-chance miss. So the Braves are hitting the boards hard. They’ll need to keep that up because the Monarchs have some serious size. Bradley up 22-18, but Roberts now has two fouls.

Ouch. Wilson misses a layup off a great dish by McCain. Tough shot, though. Contested and from behind the bucket. James follows with a drive for ODU, and then Bradley throws the ball away.

TIMEOUT AT 6:59—Bradley 22, ODU 20

During the break, Pollard does the Buffalo Wild Wings shot promotion. He makes the layup. Swishes his second 3. Then goes 0-for-3 from halfcourt. Close on the first one, off the backboard and the front of the rim. Wide left on the second. Last one board-rim again.

A ridiculous shot by McCain as the shot clock goes off. ODU has a good D sequence, and McCain is on the wing, fakes a 3 to get his man out of the way but doesn’t take the shot. Instead, he drives into traffic and muscles up an underhand toss that falls through.

Suddenly, this is a pinball game. Missed shots. Turnovers. Big from-behind block by McCain on an ODU breakaway. Dribbles off the feet. What else we gonna see? Finally, Hassell puts the ball back once, twice, three times and finally scores and we’re tied at 24. Jim Les wants a timeout for Bradley.

Bradley is still getting shots, but missing. ODU is now owning the boards, especially on offense. Hassell tips in another of his own misses and ODU leads by a pair. Gerald Lee gets an offensive rebound and scores. ODU is pounding BU underneath.

TIMEOUT AT 1:54—ODU 28, Bradley 24

That’s a 12-2 job of ODU over the past eight minutes.

Bradley gets a stop at :29.5 on a shot-clock violation. Now the last possession of the half, the Braves need to make it count.

There you go. Norris drives it from high on the left wing, gets free in the lane and floats a jumper to tie. Buzzer.

HALFTIME SCORE—Bradley 28, ODU 28

Some stats…. Both teams shooting 37 percent. ODU winning the boards 21-17, but I don’t have an offensive number yet. That one’s going to be ugly; Monarchs are winning second-chance points 12-5. Hassell has 10 boards for the Monarchs. Bradley has seven turnovers, after having none in the first nine minutes. ODU has six. Nobody in foul trouble.

Bradley has to get back to checking the boards, especially under the ODU basket, and taking care of the ball. ODU’s zone has been causing some problems, but not devastating. Bradley shots fell early, didn’t late.

Second half coming up ….

And we start with Lee getting an offensive rebound, scoring and getting fouled by Collins. Too much more of that, and BU will lose this game. Lee misses the FT, but ODU grabs the rebound again … but Collins and Roberts strip to get the ball back. Another offensive board by the Monarchs results in a James 3 over the Bradley zone. Bad start to the second for the home team.

Maniscalco gets by with a travel through the paint en route to a scoop to get BU on the second-half board. Wilson follows with a dunk on a cut down the base, taking a shovel pass from Maniscalco.

Bradley gets the lead back on a spectacular transition alley-oop lob from McCain to Roberts on the run for a 2-handed dunk. But ODU puts it right back in Bradley’s face with a transition that Collins goal-tends.

TIMEOUT AT 15:53—ODU 35, Bradley 34

Bradley will have to continue to get transition baskets and get away from fighting this ODU zone. To do that, the Braves will need to force turnovers again—and keep the Monarchs off the boards. A little better there the past 90 seconds.

Collins gets a rebound basket to put BU back on top. Then Wilson gets a steal and draws a foul. No capitalizing, but BU does get the ball into the post before missing. But ODU does that post thing better. Lee takes it to the rack, scores and gets fouled by Wilson (his second). Makes the FT. ODU back up by 2.

This zone has stifled Wilson, who has only four points. He gets fouled on a nice play inside, but splits the FTs. Now he has five and the ODU lead is down to three.

Hassell rebounds and tips in another ODU miss. This is utterly ridiculous. And more: Singh lets a pass from McCain go through his hands and OB. And now Finney rebounds another ODU airball and scores.

TIMEOUT AT 11:26—ODU 44, Bradley 37

Two things here: Bradley has to rebound. And get Wilson untracked. Part of the rebounding is the size, but part is sheer hustle. ODU simply has more going to the ball.

Now the margin is nine points as Hassell drains a J. And on Bradley’s end … one shot and out. Again. And a backdoor lob to Hassell makes the margin double digits. This is turning into a mess.

Wilson hits a turnaround on the baseline. But ODU comes right back, goes inside, misses, rebounds its own, misses. And gets the ball OB under its own bucket. Singh gets a steal, though, and after a bit of a scrum, Maniscalco tosses in a shot from inside the key to get the margin to seven. ODU takes a timeout. Good idea for them, just to regroup after that exchange. Bradley is desperate for momentum.

The second-chance margin is now 23-7. Twenty-three to freaking seven? !

Bradley goes to a 1-3-1 zone and forces a bad 3 … but ODU gets its own rebound. Again. Another missed 3, and BU comes up with the board. A nice backdoor play from Wilson to Singh cuts the lead to five, but ODU goes low to Hassell, who scores at will. Now a bad force by Singh leads to a transition jumper by Matrquel De Lancey for ODU, and it’s a nine-point game again.

TIMEOUT AT 7:13—ODU 52, Bradley 43

A total hammering on the boards. ODU up 36-23, and 17-7 on offensive rebounds. Size and hustle.

Roberts on another backdoor alley-oop slam, this from Maniscalco. But ODU strikes right back, beats the Braves back and gets a layup to kill the crowd. Singh fights for a layup inside and scores, and Les calls time at 4:59. ODU up by six.

BU gets a steal underneath in the 1-3-1 zone and Roberts hits a baseline J to cut the margin to four. Then Roberts dives in an attempt to steal, knocks the ball OB. Crowd comes to its feet. Mo seems to be changing, so Taylor calls timeout for the Monarchs. Time left: 4:01, score: ODU 55-51.

Ball back in and McCain forces a five-second count on James, with help from Maniscalco denying the passing lane down the baseline.

TIMEOUT AT 3:49—ODU 55, Bradley 51

The crowd is finally back into this. Gonna need a lot more than the crowd to pull off this comeback, though. Gonna need about all 8,000-9,000 of these people on the court to block out and rebound.

Wilson gets an offensive rebound basket for Bradley. First one in a very long time.

Now good D by Bradley forces a late-clock J and miss. But Bradley wastes time—being too patient—on the other end. Singh winds up with the ball vs. the clock and has to force a hook shot. Misses, and the rebound goes OB to Old Dominion. I understand patience. I don’t understand spending 25 seconds throwing the ball around the perimeter with no attempt to get inside.

Neely gets an offensive rebound and scores for ODU.

Singh a J from the paint. ODU wants time at 1:18, leading 57-55. That’s the Monarchs’ last. Bradley has two times left.

Task here is simple: Stop and rebound. No second-chance baskets. And then score. The way this game has gone, though, that’s a very tall order.

Lee scores off the inbounds. Goes backdoor for a layup—goaltended by Wilson—after Roberts leaves him to step up on the driver. Not a good move there with no help behind. And now McCain throws the ball away. Bradley, which has only four fouls, now fouls twice; second time not fast enough. Singh fouls now to put the Monarchs in the bonus. Five-point differential.

Tough one to pull out now. Roberts misses, and Singh fouls necessarily on the board. Back to the line. Split the FTs by De Lancey. Roberts scores for BU and a timeout.

ODU 61-57 with 26 seconds left.

All over now. Foul on BU. Two free throws by De Lancey. Miss by BU, runout and dunk by De Lancey. Eight point differential with :11.7 left. Clock reset at :14.3. Doesn’t matter.

Say goodnight.

FINAL SCORE—ODU 66, Bradley 62

Tuesday morning, I got a telephone call from a reader named Clyde Newell, from Washington. He’s a longtime follower of Bradley basketball and was intrigued by the 75-foot game-winning shot by the Braves’ Chris Roberts on Monday night against Oakland. Newell said he recalled legendary Bradley all-American Gene “Squeaky” Melchiorre hitting such a shot back in the day and asked me to check it out.

Who else but the old coach, Joe Stowell, would ride to the rescue here? I had mentioned Newell’s question to Bradley sports info man Bobby Parker, and he saw Stowell before the Wednesday night game and asked him. Bobby returned with info that Stowell recalled the shot being against Wichita State. So today, I dug into the archives and found it.

Feb. 6, 1950, at Robertson Field House. At the end of the first half, here’s what happened, as described by the Peoria Star’s beat writer, Max Seibel:

Melchiorre … brought the crowd to its feet with an unbelievable 66-foot shot with a split-second left in the first half. (The shot) was accepted as the longest shot in Bradley basketball history by Dutch Meinen, Brave coordinator of sports, who has been around the Hilltop long enough to know.

“That’s true,” Stowell said of Meinen, when I read him the clip this afternoon.

Melchiorre’s shot put Bradley gave Bradley a 31-27 halftime lead. The Braves went on to win, 61-49.

Bradley’s Chris Roberts is back in the ESPN Top 10 plays, after his alley-oop slam Wednesday night against Pacific. That lob-and-dunk is No. 10. Bobby Parker, the Bradley sports info boss, sent video of that play, plus the big-time jam in traffic by Theron Wilson, to ESPN after the game. Frankly, I was surprised Roberts and Bradley got honors on back-to-back games. Maybe the Eastern Sports Promotion Network isn’t as blind as we thought.

And here’s a little sidebar to the story of the 75-foot bomb that made Roberts No. 4 on Monday night.

Josh Simon of WEEK-TV e-mailed me re the credit he was given for helping Parker submit that video to ESPN. Simon wanted to make sure everyone knows he didn’t shoot the video Monday (he did shoot the Wednesday footage) and, in fact, was back at the studio. He wanted to make sure video photographer Warren Brinegar got the proper congrats on the shot. Simon told me that Brinegar had watched a YouTube video last week of a last-second shot, and that was on his mind when Bradley inbounded the ball for the final play. Josh said: “When they set up to take the last shot, (Warren) thought to himself, ‘I had better follow it because it’s going to go in.’”

That’s what makes good work. Preparation and anticipation. Fred Zwicky, Journal Star photographer, is the same way. Fred’s remarkable photos are posted on bradleyhoops.com. He caught the emotion of the moment, not just by Roberts, but the opposing players and the cheerleaders and fans—all in one picture that was available to shoot only for an instant. Great stuff.

Video update: Here’s a JS video by Adam Gerik of some of the Wednesday night game highlights. It includes the Roberts dunk, although the angle makes it hard to see the McCain pass. Also two big dunks by Wilson and the lefty drive dunk by Dodie Dunson. All are “squirrel’s-eye” view. Adam was just right of the basket that took the pounding.

National media attention has been showered on Bradley guard Chris Roberts today following his game-winning 75-foot bank shot Monday night against Oakland in the CollegeInsider.com tournament.

Roberts’ shot was No. 4 among ESPN’s top 10 plays of the day with the excited call from Dave Snell and Chuck Buscher accompanying the video clip. The Today Show also aired the clip and commented on it. Roberts was a guest via phone on ESPN2’s First Take morning sports show.

“It’s great,” said BU coach Jim Les. “A lot of credit goes to (Bradley sports information director) Bobby (Parker) and (WEEK’s) Josh Simon, who hustled the clips to ESPN and NBC. Those guys, as well as Chris, deserve a lot of accolades. Any time our university can get exposure like that, it’s a great positive.

“I’m really happy for Chris. People don’t realize how hard of a shot that is, next to near impossible.”

Here’s the link to WMBD’s report.

This is the ESPN link.

Chris Roberts’ 75-foot banker that lifted Bradley over Oakland last night was ESPN’s No. 4 play on the Top 10. And it made the lead segment on the NBC Today Show this morning. But the star of this particular YouTube clip is longtime Peoria attorney Joe Napoli.

For the benefit of those who don’t know Joe: He is a Bradley alum who led the NCAA in batting average back in 1960, hitting .490 that season. He became a high-powered attorney in Peoria and has represented a number of ex-Bradley players who went pro, from Steve Kuberski to Roger Phegley and others. Nap has front-row seats to all the BU games, sitting almost at the half-court line, across from the Bradley bench. Here’s the funny thing, though. You watch Nap at a Bradley game, and he looks totally disinterested most of the time. He sits with his arms folded, a scowl on his face. He rarely stands up.

When Roberts made that shot, and the Bradley team swarmed him and the mob tumbled into the front of Section 24, I turned to our beat guy, Dave Reynolds, and laughed. “I think they landed in Napoli’s lap,” I said. Afterwards, I even asked Roberts: “So, did you land in Napoli’s lap?” Roberts said he wasn’t sure whose lap he landed in, there were so many people in the mob.

Now, thanks to this YouTube video, we see Nap escaped the chaos by displaying more public emotion in three or four seconds than most people have seen from him over a decade … or two. Nap is the guy in the black jacket, trotting down the sidelines with his mouth open and his hands in the air.

Enjoy.

Update: More publicity. Chris Roberts was just on ESPN2 “First Take.” Ended the show with a phone interview as they showed the shot again. And by the way, happy birthday, Chris.

And the shot itself: Doh! Should have put up this WEEK-TV video, too. The shooter actually followed the flight of the ball and got the whole shot, from launch to board to net. 

I know my esteemed colleague Dave Reynolds has predicted another Bradley victory tonight. He has BU winning this second-round CIT contest by 4. I’m on a different page.

Bradley’s defense will be sorely tested. The visiting Grizzlies can shoot, and they can pound. They also have shown they take care of the ball, and it’s not like they haven’t faced good teams with great quicks (Cleveland State and Syracuse). They’re sure not going to come in here showing any fear. They opened their season with five road games: Cleveland State, Oregon, Syracuse, Iowa and Kansas State. Granted, Oregon, Iowa and K-State are more big-name than big-game right now, but the point is Oakland isn’t going to come into Peoria and quiver in the face of a crowd of 6,000—or whatever the BU faithful muster tonight.

Sure, Bradley can win this game. I just don’t think the Braves are going to. But, we’ll see.

Tipoff in 27 minutes … Meantime, I’m going to watch Creighton-Kentucky on the tube.

Bradley’s lineup: Eddren McCain, Sam Maniscalco, Chris Roberts, David Collins, Theron Wilson. Will be interesting to see if Bradley forces Oakland to go smaller and quicker, or if Oakland forces Jim Les to put Sam Singh in for some minutes at the same time as Collins. I really don’t think we’ll see the latter happen. Singh and Collins need to spell each other and likely wouldn’t complement each other very well.

Tipoff seconds away …

We’re underway, and before I forget … first impression is the crowd is smaller than the 4,400 here for the Austin Peay game last week. More students, though. Welcome back from break. Wherever ya’ll went.

Bradley’s first play is a backdoor lob from Maniscalco to Roberts for a layin. Oakland matches the backdoor on the other end without the lob. Now McCain nearly gets his arm broken trying to stop another backdoor layup.

Oakland has a 6-9 guy, Will Hudson, guarding Wilson. A lot of length.

TIMEOUT AT 15:37—Oakland 9, Bradley 4

All of the Grizzlies’ points—except the FT—have come on layups. And they’ve been blocked on two other shots low in the paint and missed another point blank. They are getting to the rim with ease against BU’s defense, and Bradley is struggling. Already four turnovers, all of them trying to get the ball inside—or after the Braves get the ball inside, they bobble it. Collins has fumbled two. Need some straightening out on both ends.

Singh comes in for Collins at the break.

Now Jonathan Jones of Oakland hits a 3. The Grizz had missed a couple of those, but this one goes. And another BU turnover.

Bradley starts crawling back into it. Wilson gets to the hoop. Darian Norris hits a J with his foot on the 3 line. Singh gets fouled and makes a pair of FTs. But the Braves can’t get consistent stops. And they’re getting hammered on the boards with putbacks.

Bad call by the refs. Maniscalco forces a jump ball near the center court, and Oakland gets a timeout. Close, but the jump got called before the time. And then Oakland coach Greg Kampe lights up his huddle with a string of F-bombs.

TIMEOUT AT 10:32—Oakland 18, Bradley 12

Oakland winning the boards 10-5, and the Grizzlies lead 7-2 in second-chance points. Bradley up to five turnovers and has only two steals to the Grizzlies’ five. Not much going Bradley’s way right now, although the defense the past couple of possessions has turned up a little more heat. Need a lot more.

Bradley now conducting cooking class; teaching how to make turnovers.

Maybe this will get the Braves going: Singh, after getting boxed on an offensive rebound, hustles to steal the ball, falls and gets it to Roberts, who makes a tough layup in traffic and is fouled. Converts the FT. And now Maniscalco drains a 3. Score now 23-18. And Maniscalco now takes it to the hole as Oakland is slow getting back on D. Score 23-20, and Oakland wants another timeout for more F-bombs.

The Bradley run is 8-0 in 1:14.

Ouch. You’ve heard of the Bridge to Nowhere? Taylor Brown just threw the Pass to Nobody. He didn’t realize Maniscalco was cutting away, and fired a cross-court pass that bounced OB right.

TIMEOUT AT 6:39—Oakland 23, Bradley 20

Oakland likes to jack 3s, but it has only hit 2 of 10. That’s about the only thing the Grizzlies haven’t done well, though.

Maniscalco is a nervous Nellie at the line. As soon as he releases, he’s bouncing on his toes, trying to coax the ball home. He always does this. It’s just fun to watch. Sometimes he’s more nervous than others.

Wilson gets a steal and runout for a layup and the margin is one. And now Dodie Dunson curls from right to left and gets a layup for the Bradley lead. Short-lived, though. Foul. Backdoor.

TIMEOUT AT 3:21—Oakland 29, Bradley 26

Bradley gets the lead back on a putback by Dunson and a sweet drop-step for a layin by Singh. But short-lived again, as Erik Kangas hits a 3 for Oakland.

Now the refs are warning Oakland for a second time not to slap the ball out of its own net. This one should have been a tech; the Grizz already had a warning. But I guess this time the refs really mean it. Now we get an explanation at the scorer’s table that the refs weren’t sure who hit the ball out of the net this time, so they couldn’t T it.

Roberts sticks a 3 off Maniscalco penetrate and dish. And Maniscalco strips Jones at the halftime buzzer.

HALFTIME—Oakland 36, Bradley 35

Second half starts with Oakland’s Keith Benson and Collins trading post buckets. Now Wilson gets by with a travel, gets fouled and hits two FTs for BU to take the lead 41-40.

A little of this and a little of that. Nothing spectacular. And we’re already to the first official TO of the second half.

TIMEOUT AT 15:49—Bradley 44, Oakland 44

Wonder how Creighton and Kentucky turned out. Let’s check. Looks like Creighton blew it; missed a bunch of FTs in the final two minutes and Ky won by a pair.

Back to Carver … Benson gets his third foul blocking a drive by McCain, and Kampe is beside himself, outside himself, going crazy. But McCain misses both FTs. Must be a Valley thing tonight.

BTW, Wilson has nine rebounds so far. Bradley’s whole team has 14.

Now McCain gets his third foul, a block on Jones. Crowd is ticked, but it was a good call. McCain had position, then scooted right at the last second to adjust for Jones shifting left.

Bradley is back to the kitchen again. Three possessions, three turnovers. And now Hudson tears a rebound away from Wilson and scores. Bradley misses a shot and loses the rebound OB, and Les wants time out. Oakland up 50-44 at the 13:12 mark, and the Braves are back to being out of synch offensively and shy an intensity notch on defense and the boards.

Bradley comes out of the TO and slaps on a denial press, and Oakland has to burn a TO so it doesn’t get a five-second turnover. Not huge, but maybe the defensive fire will turn up now. There’s a stop.
And Bradley breaks its drought with corner 3 from Dunson.

Benson gets his fourth foul for Oakland, trying to stop Wilson from dunking.

TIMEOUT AT 11:35—Oakland 52, Bradley 47

The two points Oakland scored shortly before the timeout were a bad break for BU. Roberts had smoked out an attempted back door lob play and swatted away the pass before it could be grabbed and dunked. But Kangas was standing all by himself at the FT line when the slapaway came his way, and he stuck the J.

Bradley is shooting 58 percent of its shots, and half its 3s. But the difference is on the boards—especially Oakland’s O board. The Grizzlies have 10 offensive rebounds and are leading second-chance points 13-6.

Kangas hits a 3, but Dunson answers. Then Maniscalco gets a steal but gets stripped en route to the basket.

Bradley is standing around watching Oakland get rebound, after rebound, after rebound … finally, Taylor Brown steps in and grabs one. Maniscalco hits a 3 … but Dunson comes back and fouls Kangas on a 3. Tough call. Dunson had been screened and got to Kangas late. Kangas missed the 3, but Dunson banged into him before he returned to the court from his jump.

TIMEOUT AT 7:25—Oakland 60, Bradley 55

Braves aren’t making up any ground. Oakland has an answer for everything, in big part because the Grizzlies are winning the hustle plays, on the boards and on the floor.

Second-chance points differential now 15-6. That’s spelled b-a-l-l-g-a-m-e.

Maniscalco scores on a runner. Now BU needs stops. Gets one, but can’t capitalize. Sammy’s runner rolls out this time. Oakland gets one FT out of the possession. So call this chipping away at Gibralter with a toothpick.

Maniscalco gets bailed out of a bad decision: driving and jumping toward OB line. Blocking call. No capitalizing on that either, though. Wilson launches a 3 from the corner and misses.

Now THAT was a wise expenditure of a foul. Benson got loose in the lane and was headed to dunk, and Wilson used his third foul to stuff the guy. If you’re gonna foul, bring him down and make sure he doesn’t score. Benson makes one and the lead is back to five, where it has been most of the half.

Good hustling O-board steal by Roberts, and Singh scores in the post, but Oakland gets another tip-in. Now Singh hits a baseline jumper. The crowd is alive. On its feet … and Bradley lets Kangas drive for a layup to sit everyone down. Roberts responds with a running hook, and now Les wants time.

At 3:46, it’s Oakland 66-63.

Well, at least the game is exciting and close.

Doesn’t feel like postseason, though. Feels like November and a home game the Braves should win.

Back and forth and a stop each ways, then Hudson gets a layin off a loose ball. But Roberts responds with a drive, and Hudson blocks him. Possible three-point play coming up.

TIMEOUT AT 2:55—Oakland 68, Bradley 65

If the Braves had shown any ability to actually stop Oakland tonight, I would tell you they have a good shot to win this. But they couldn’t stop Jell-O from melting in the fridge right now.

Two-point game as Roberts converts the FT.

And Benson takes Singh to the rack and scores and gets fouled. Converts and it’s a five-pointer again.

Trouble now. Maniscalco misses a runner. Oakland spreads the floor. Oops, Maniscalco forces a five-second call on Jones, who makes no progress on him. Doesn’t even really try. Wilson fouled going to the basket and shoots for two. He bounces in the first one. High bounce. And both. Are you kidding? Both of those bounced off back rim and above the top of the board.

Oakland goes deep, and Singh can’t stop Benson without fouling. At least Benson didn’t hit the shot this time. Two FTs for Benson, who misses the first … and makes the second. Four-point game.

Maniscalco fouled by Hudson and will shoot bonus situation. Misses the first and Oakland rebounds.

Wilson gets his fourth foul. Well, somebody had to do something. Not sure that was the something they wanted in a two-possession game. Kangas shoots a pair. And splits. Five point game. And Maniscalco runs down and hits a quick 3. And Les calls time.

1:05 left—Oakland 73, Bradley 71

Time to see if BU can stop this team when it has to.

Oakland goes to the post, and Wilson steps in to wrestle the ball away from Benson. Ball loose, and Singh dives to the floor, grabs it and calls time. Bradley ball with 32.7 to play. That’s a stop. Right when the Braves needed one. A few more like that, and they wouldn’t be in this position. But we’ll see what happens next.

Bradley is out of timeouts.

Maniscalco ties it on an off-balance runner. Not sure what that was all about, but it went in.

Time out Oakland. 18.4 to play. Score 73-73.

Jones drives to the baseline and calls time with 3.3 seconds left. That’s a good play. If you don’t get the layup, get the inbounds play underneath. Bradley hasn’t done a very good job against this tonight. Oakland has scored a couple.

BU defenses it well, but Jones gets the ball in the lane and throws in a fallaway with 0.9. BU inbounds and Roberts throws in three-quarter-court bank shot. And it’s good. And the crowd goes nuts.

Bradley 76, Oakland 75