Press Row

Tonight, we’re logged on to blog from Sully’s Cafe, a popular cafe and pub on Adams in Downtown Peoria. This is the official Peoria site of Bradley’s Coast to Coast national alumni viewing party. There will be Bradley fans hanging together tonight in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago (four places in Chicagoland!), Denver, Houston, Indy, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City, Los Altos (that’s in California), Philly, Phoenix, Raleigh, the Quad Cities, Rockford, Springfield, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa and D.C.  And of course, Peoria.

Reggie Bustinza is here from the alumni office, along with his significant other, Kelly Horton, who calls herself “an alumni volunteer.” They’re setting up with Sully’s people. Tables are set with BU paraphernalia. Ready to get it on with the Panthers of Northern Iowa.

And by the way, Northern Iowa goes by UNI. Don’t you dare call it NIU, or you’ll hear all about it. NIU is Northern Illinois. And I will say this: There is no comparison at all between their basketball teams. Zero.

Right now, got about an hour before tipoff. Needed to make sure my connex were good and all that. Gonna take a break and chomp into a turkey wrap and some fries.

Gee, I hope colleague Dave Reynolds found his way to the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls without me. …

This just in from Frostbite Falls: No changes in the Bradley starting lineup tonight. Braves slated to start Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. So much for “shakeups,” I guess. We’ll see if these guys learned anything in practice that will carry over to an entire game. Meanwhile, Iowa State will put out its usual five: Ali Farokhmanesh, Kwadzo Ahelegbe, Johnny Moran, Jake Koch, Jordan Eglseder. I don’t know which is worse: having to spell those names correctly or pronounce them correctly. Anyway you say or write it, these guys can play.

I find it interesting that the Panthers didn’t get much preseason respect this season. They took Purdue to the wire in the first round of the NCAA tourament last March; lost 61-56. Purdue hailed this season as a Final Four-caliber team. That’s fine. UNI, which returned everybody: almost off the radar. So here are the Panthers, 14-1 so far, with a 13-game winning streak. Finally starting to get a little national notice. Not saying they’re a Final Four team, but these guys can go a ways in the Dance. If they played in a “big six” league, nobody would be questioning their credentials. Just sayin’.

Tipoff coming up …

Looks like we’re going to miss the opening minute or two. ESPNU is still on Hofstra-VCU, which is a 10-point game with 1:44 left. Foul time, which means slow time, which means we join Bradley in progress. … Sometime …

Kind of a small crowd. About two dozen people here at Sully’s. Do believe it would have been larger had the Braves been playing better. These people, though, are ones who go to home games, as opposed to other places around the country; those folks don’t get to see BU on television very often. Like, almost not at all. Still, this is a good event to have. …

Hofstra-VCU ends. … Hofstra decides it can’t score 13 points in 15 seconds and doesn’t foul. … Once they get done rolling credits we can get to the game. Here we go. Tied 2-2 in the first minute of play. … Now 5-2 after Ali F corners. … Good sign is that Egolf battles inside for a couple of offensive boards; bad news is he can’t put the ball back in the hole. … Sam Singh comes into the game for BU. Looks like he replaced Egolf. … Bradley can’t buy a basket. … And Ali F 3s again to make it 10-2. … Jim Les can’t wait around for the under-16 timeout and halts this madness. … I know it’s early, but, um, same-old/same-old? …

Maniscalco breaks through with a 3. … Dyricus Simms-Edwards in for the Braves. …

Under-16 timeout — UNI 10, Bradley 5

Last time I attended viewing parties, it was the Las Vegas Invitational, and the party was at the Michel Student Center on the BU campus. The Braves lost to Okie State the first night, then beat Illinois the second. The crowd at the Michel that night was like a game crowd: up on its feet and cheering, chanting, etc. … None of that tonight. … So far, that night was the high point of the season. Seeing as that was almost seven weeks ago, that tells you how Bradley’s season has been going. …

Warren hits a 3 after a pair of UNI freebies. That was nice: in rhythm and wide open. … Braves get the ball back and now retain with an offensive rebound. Those were sorely lacking Saturday at Missouri State, where they got killed on the boards. … Egolf back in the game for Singh. …

Just got word that Marcus Ohnemus, the Bradley trainer, and his wife had a baby last night. Congrats to them. Marcus is not on this trip. I would say he’d better not be. …

Brown scores, just as the announcers on TV mention the Bradley Coast to Coast viewing party. Nice pub. … And yes, dude, “Those people in Peoria, they love their basketball.” …

Singh gets called for an illegal screen at the high post. … Maniscalco gets a rise out of the Sully’s crowd with his steal and strong drive to the basket, drawing contact but no foul. He scores, though. …

Timeout at 10:45 — UNI 14, Bradley 12

So far, Bradley playing OK. Looks like much better energy, especially going to the boards on both ends. Defense a little better, too, it seems. … Long way to go. …

Good D by the Braves against a post move by Eglseder. … Singh gets another illegal screen. Apparently that’s his third foul. … A lot of Bradley shots seem to be hard line drives. A little anxious, perhaps? … UNI having trouble offensively, committing another offensive foul. … Bradley ties on a backdoor to Brown. … Eglseder is a load, especially when he uses his off arm to clear out the defender. …

Timeout at 7:50 — UNI 16, Bradley 14

Jake Eastman has been in for BU a little while. … Egolf really battles Eglseder on defense; makes it tough for the monster to score cleanly. Like to see that kind of fight. Eglseder listed at 280 pounds; I’m thinking that’s about 10-20 shy of reality. Not saying he’s fat. Just huge. … Play getting a little ragged, partly from being so physical. … Warren loses the ball as he tries to push off for a better path to the basket. Then some real bangning under the UNI bucket. … Roberts 3 out of the weave ties at 17. … Ali F counters with his own. That kid can load it up. … I like Eastman’s heart. The kid fights hard; doesn’t care how many inches or pounds he gives up, he just goes hard. Fearless. … Needs to start making some FTs, though. He splits a pair after being fouled in the act of shooting. Two-point game. … Bradley’s defense so far is light years better than it was at Mo State; rebounding better, too. … The offense, however, is a little rough. … Now Egolf a charge. … Steal by BU and an immediate throwaway. …

Timeout at 3:50 — UNI 20, Bradley 18

Egolf fights for an ORB and puts back the second-chance pair. … Roberts puts the Braves up with a 3 after a nice sequence of ball movement. … Much better play overall tonight, and it’s because there’s defensive and board effort. … Excellent baseline drive and reverse by DSE and the Braves get Ben Jacobson to call time out for UNI. … The crowd at Sully’s likes that. …

Bradley refuses to back down in the post to Koch, but there’s a foul. He makes both FTs of the bonus situation. … Noticing Brown’s minutes are down; Eastman’s are up. … Singh back in for Egolf with 1:10 left. … One-point game. … Now a six-point run by UNI after a BU turnover and fastbreak for the Panthers. … Maniscalco hits a pull-up top of the key. … Ahelegbe misses as time expires. …

Halftime — Bradley 27, UNI 26

Big stat of the first half: Bradley up 21-12 on the boards, 7-4 offensive. Egolf has 9 rebounds, 4 on offense. That’s the way to rebound! … Bradley has 12 turnovers, but UNI has 11. … Braves’ scoring very balanced. …

Now, see how BU comes out of the locker room. That has been a downside all season: Bad opening five minutes of the second half. UNI, you’d expect, will come out fired up. Bradley has to respond and hang in. …

I am not shocked by this. Bradley’s problem is not lack of capability. It has been lack of effort; lack of consistent effort. Half to half, and game to game. That should not be the case. Seems Les got their attention, but we’ve seen this before, only to watch it slip away — in the second half or the next game. …

Second half coming up. …

BTW, Marcus’s wife, Sarah, and new daughter, Taylor Marie, are doing fine. …

Bradley misses to open the half. UNI goes immediately to Eglseder, who scores easily and gets a little bump foul from Egolf. Made FT and it’s two-point lead for UNI. … See how BU responds. … An airball by Brown, that’s how. … Singh in for Egolf, and Eglseder abuses him for two points. … Roberts hits a 3 after Bradley nearly loses it twice. Game tied at 30. …

Correction: UNI up 31-30. …

A little pinball and some good hustle by Maniscalco to punch a roller to Singh for a layup keeps Bradley from giving up more ground. … But Ali F hits another 3 for UNI. Did I say this before? The kid can shoot it. Flat shoot it. … Now a Bradley travel and we have a …

Timeout at 15:49 — UNI 36, Bradley 32

UNI came out as expected. Bradley isn’t dormant, but struggling. Fortunately, the Braves are still hustling. But they suddenly are flat-footed on defense. The bump foul by Egolf was just unacceptable. Don’t compound getting beat baseline with an excuse-me foul. Blast the guy and stop the shot — or let him go, don’t waste a foul and let him score, too. …

Turnover by Roberts leads to a runout dunk by Koch. … Bradley had better get itself together here. … Singh goes to the line for a pair, but gets only one. … There: Warren gets a steal and runout dunk for BU.  Needed that. … But now a bad shot by Warren. Forced and falling away. … Nice two-man game between Ahelegbe and Lucas O’Rear, who scres and gets fouled. … Wow. Drake beat Mo State. In Des Moines, but still. … O’Rear makes his FT and UNI is up six. … Now Ahelegbe is dealing. Great dish to O’Rear off penetration for a layup, and Les needs timeout with the Panthers up nine. … Bradley’s response here is not good. Most of this is UNI is a good team. But Bradley aspires to be good, and you can’t  — launch ridiculous 3s while guarded like Brown just did. Quick and not in rhythm. … Bradley at least continuing to board well. … Bad entry pass by Maniscalco. …

Are you kidding me? UNI makes a wretched pass, stolen by Egolf, who just fires it right back to the Panthers. Not sure more than a second ticked off. Not sure they even had a chance to restart the shot clock.

Timeout at 11:20 — UNI 43, Bradley 35

UNI has opened the half with a 17-8 advantage and we’re nearing the halfway point. Braves 3-for-12 shooting and six turnovers already. … This turnover leads to another FG by Ali F, but a 2, because he’s on the line. … Brown passes up an open 3 this time and gives to Maniscalco, who makes an open 3. Good decision, TB. … Maniscalco hits another 3, this one top of key, and the margin is back to four points. … But Egolf gets another chintzy foul, and gives up two points in the process. … Will to the bench with four personals. … Now Maniscalco gets pinned on the baseline and has to burn a timeout. … Not sure what the heck that was. Eastman just kind of flung the ball toward the hoop. Pass? Nobody there. Shot? He’s not that bad. … Braves cannot buy a basket again. They’re not getting into the paint, and few openings on the perimeter. … Fortunately, their D is adequate and they continue to rebound well. … Man, UNI is ripe to be beaten tonight, but Bradley can’t capitalize. …

Under-8 timeout — UNI 47, Bradley 41

The Sully’s crowd is quiet. Not much to cheer; still time, though. If the Braves can compile a solid six minutes, akin to their best stretches of the first half, they have a chance to win here.

Roberts bounces in a 3 and it’s a three-point game, until Eglseder gets an ORB and putback. … Now Eglseder gets T’d up for banging the ball on the floor. This after a Bradley player — Brown? — ties him up. Big guy thought he got fouled. Now he gets one. …

Timeout at 3:57 — UNI 49, Bradley 44

Braves giving themselves a chance here. Need to take advantage of the opportunities. …

Warren makes both FTs to cut it to three. … Ahelegbe misses and DSE pulls the board for Bradley. … Roberts misses a 3, and DSE flies in to the board and fouls. … UNI travels. … Warren drive and dish to Roberts for a layup and it’s a one-pointer. … UNI calls time. … And the Panthers throw the ball OB with 1:51 left. …

Warren misses a 3, but DSE grabs the ORB and Bradley resets. But now a charge by DSE in the lane. Lowers the shoulder. Can’t lower the shoulder, son. … Ahelegbe (I think that was him; the image on the screen is a little small from where I sit) scores, but Maniscalco comes right back and it’s still a one-point game, with 22 seconds left. …

Bradley presses and fouls Ahelegbe as soon as the ball is inbounds. … The Sully’s crowd is awake again, hoping BU finds a way to pull this one out. … Egolf returns, and Ahelegbe splits the FTs. Two-point game. But UNI has only three team fouls, and so Ali F fouls Maniscalco immediately. The Panthers will do this again and again. There’s the fifth at 11.2. … One more? Nope. … UNI relentless, and then fouls Maniscalco on the floor with 0.6 seconds left. … Refs will check the clock. Les drawing up a last ditch play. Time remains at 0.6. …

BU goes for the lob off the inbounds. It’s intercepted.

Final score — UNI 52, Bradley 50

Well, you can take some positives from this. You can. The Braves showed they are capable of playing tough D, and they can rebound against a strong rebounding team. This is not a question of “can.” Its a question of “will.” I know what they “can” do. I don’t know what they “will” do. No moral victories here. This team shouldn’t need those. These guys need to start winning games and winning consistently. Still time in the season.

Nice little party. They came with hope, as opposed to expectation, though. Someday, that has to get turned around.

Live from the JQH Arena in Springfield, Mo. We got here in good order, with no wrong turns, no guessing, no dizzying drives. Guess who was behind the wheel?

Tipoff in about 75 minutes. I’ll be back with more shortly.

In case you haven’t been to Springfield, here’s a primer, written on this road trip last year. Every other block you run into a structure with the Hammons name attached to it. The JQH Arena: That’s John Q. Hammons. Lots of money to throw around. Lots of stuff to put his name on. The weather this year is markedly different. Last year’s trip, in the first week of January, we saw people playing golf. During the afternoon, it was comfortable to walk around outdoors in a sweater. Today: Bundle up. A ski mask wouldn’t be bad. There is snow and ice and bitter cold. Not unlike Peoria.

Enough of that. 

This could be an interesting afternoon. My stomach is rebelling against the BBQ for lunch. Should be an interesting afternoon for the Bradley Braves, too. They need to win this game; the first of back-to-back road trips. The second one is Tuesday at first-place Northern Iowa, so this one represents the Braves’ best chance at a split. They swept the Bears last season, and they need to keep up that streak to avoid falling into a world of MVC hurt. There is only one game difference between a 3-3 record and a 2-4 record in the MVC, but from a practical standpoint, the difference is much bigger than one game. At 2-4, the Braves would have to dig out of a serious hole. At 3-3, they’d be hanging in, giving themselves a chance at a first-division finish.

The refs today will be John Higgins, Hal Lusk and Mike Litzelfelner. Higgins is the only one I know about. My colleague Dave Reynolds says he isn’t familiar with Lusk and only a little with Litzelfelner. Higgins’ nickname among a lot of fans is “Baywatch,” for his perpetual tan and hairstyle, with every strand moussed into perfectly unruly place. But he’s an excellent ref, with multiple Final Fours on his resume.

Tipoff in about 30 minutes …

Bradley starts its normal lineup: Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. Missouri State starts Adam Leonard, Keith Pickens, Jermaine Mallett, Kyle Weems, Will Creekmore. Weems is a cousin of former Brave Theron Wilson. …

Here we go. …

Mo State scores first, going inside to Mallett on first posssession. … Roberts comes back with a 3, off a pass from Brown, who was stuck behind the basket. That’s turning sour to sweet. … The JQH has a nice scoreboard, with a big, four-sided HD screen showing the action. The “score” part of the board is a little tough to get used to, with the scores not side by side. … Mo State gets a long extended possession; Warren has trouble hanging on to a rebound, and then another miss by the Bears is ruled to have gone off BU. Weems hits as second-chance 3. … Roberts goes inside hard; Bradley starts that way again, trying to drive the seams to the paint. He gets fouled and goes to the line for a pair, but only splits. His FT shooting remains spotty. … Now Weems gets an ORB and stickback. Five second-chance points for the Bears already and we’re not four minutes in. … Another 3 by Weems, who has 10 of the Bears’ 12 points. … Maniscalco counters. … Looks like a 1-3-1 zone by Mo State. … Oh, nice: BU gets a steal, runout pass to Brown under pressure, and he hangs under the basket and flips in a reverse layup with high spin — “a lot of English” as we used to say. He’s fouled and will go to the line after …

Timeout at 15:06 — Bradley 13, Mo State 12

During the timeout, the sound system piped in some lady singing “Movin’ on Up” from the old “Jeffersons” TV show. … But she got interrupted by the band, which wanted to play “Jesus Is Just Alright” by the Doobie Brothers. … I’ll take the band. …

Brown’s FT is good, and now he comes out, replaced by Ryan Phillips, the senior walk-on who is obviously ahead of freshman scholie Milos Knezevic in the rotation at the 4 spot now. … Jake Eastman and Sam Singh are also in the game. … Now Eddren McCain and Dyricus Simms-Edwards enter for BU. … Warren the only starter on the floor. … Weems scores again on an inbounds play under the basket. Twelve of 14 for him now. … Braves blow a fastbreak. … Weems from 3-point land, and he has 15 of the Bears’ 17. Um, somebody might want to guard him. These looks are pretty open. …

Jim Les wants timeout to discuss that, I presume. … The student section is holding up larger-than-life masks of Weems. That’s scary. …

Mo State zone looks more like a 2-3. … And Weems hits another 3 — 18 of 20 points. … Now Brown gets called for charging on the baseline. Mo State is up 20-14. … Bradley having trouble with the zone, and can’t stop Weems, who comes out of the game. Now we’ll see if anyone else on the Bears can do anything. …

Jerome Jones tries, misses, but Leonard flies across the lane to grab the ORB. …

Timeout at 11:55 — Missouri State 20, Bradley 14

Here comes Knezevic to replace Brown, who has two fouls. … Mo State goes man here, but BU fails to score. … Weems back in the game and scores on a drive and pullup in the paint. He now has 20 of their 22. … Warren stops the BU drought with a 3 from the corner, to make it 22-17. … Maniscalco fouls underneath, trying to guard the 6-9 Creekmore. Mo State smoked out the mismatch. Seventh team foul on the Braves. … Uh-oh: Weems’ percentage of points just dropped with Creekmore making a FT. Weems has only 80 percent of Mo State’s points. …

Bradley settling for jumpers, unable to find its way inside. … Ref Higgins now gets Knezevic and Weems together; blows his whistle to stop play after Weems gives Knezevich a forearm. I suspect it was provoked. Good job by Higgins: No need to call a foul or double-foul there, just get both guys by the jerseys and tell them to knock off the silliness. … Mo State back to a zone, and BU can’t get inside. Maniscalco misses, Milos gets an ORB but travels. Twice. Gets called once. That’s enough. … If Bradley doesn’t figure out a way to get inside this zone, no way do the Braves win this game. The offense is stalled, and the defense is poor — non-existent on Weems. … There, Warren drives for a floater in the paint. …

Timeout at 7:48 — Mo State 27, Bradley 21

A steal and quick timeout for BU, to maintain possession. … Warren hits a 3 — that bounces high off the rim, off the board and then in — and gets fouled. He fist-pumps. That was interesting. Higgins blew the whistle with the ball in flight, then stood there and watched for a basketball eternity to see whether the shot would go in. When it did: Boom! Good. Now, they’re checking the monitors at the scorer’s table, which is across the court, so I can’t tell what they’re checking. No question the shot was a 3. … Oh … Warren didn’t get fouled; Eastman got fouled off the ball, so he gets a one-and-one; makes the first, misses the second, and we have a two-point game — until Weems drives Main Street for a layup. He now has 24 of the Bears’ 29. You know, if Bradley could play this game 5-on-4 … Illegal screen by Weems, and yes it was, despite the boos. …

Bad pass by Roberts — one of those floating wing-to-point jobs that begs to be stolen — gets stolen and leads to a runout bucket for the Bears. Weems doesn’t score it!  Egolf counters from the block, as Bradley gets inside. … Wow! Four points in a row for Mo State, and none by Weems. … Now Egolf drives the bucket for two. … And now six in a row by Bears not named Weems. … And now eight. Bradley can’t stop anybody. … Hanging in, though, because BU is getting into the paint. Warren does now and gets fouled, and his free throws cut the Mo State lead to four. … Creekmore gets alone underneath, but BU is saved by a deflected pass up high. …

Timeout at 3:54 — Mo State 37, Bradley 33

 Fouls mounting for both teams. Both in double bonus. … Pickens makes it 41-33 with a pair of FTs. … Maniscalco hits a 3. In rhythm. … But Nafis Ricks ORB putback for Mo State. … Don’t have the count, but the second chances are mounting. BU not boarding very well. … Or playing D. Mo State threatening 50 in the first half. … Ridiculous. … We were talking in the press workroom before the game about how Bradley has rediscovered its offense the past couple of weeks — but the defense, which wasn’t great but at least passable, is now just bad. …There’s 50, on a 3 by Leonard with more than a minute to play. … BU just cannot play D without fouling now. …

Back in 2000-01, Bradley went 19-12, finished second in the MVC and had eight games in which it held opponents to 53 or fewer points. Today, the Braves have given up 52 in the first half.

Halftime score — Mo State 52, Bradley 41

That 9-point spread looks like a good bet right now. Shouldn’t. But it does.

Well, let’s see. Bradley down 11 — and (gasp!) the Braves have been outscored 11-0 on second-chance points. Mo State is pounding the boards, up 19-11 overall and 8-4 on the offensive glass. Only Egolf with 3 and Knezevic with two have more than one rebound for the Braves. Pitiful effort. Pitiful. Pitiful. Almost verything else is fairly even: BU shooting 50 percent on 3s (5-of-10), and Mo State is 46 percent (6-of-13). BU has made 10 of 13 FTs, Mo State 12 of 14. … BU has eight assists and five turnovers, Mo State seven and five. … Points in paint are tied at 14. Fast break points are tied at 2. Bears lead 9-7 off turnovers. … Mo State is up 10-3 off the bench, which is remarkable only because Weems has 24 (and he sat the last five minutes or so after getting his second foul). … Eight of those 10 were by Ricks. … Warren has 12 points, Maniscalco 10. Brown has been invisible, mostly because he got two quick fouls and played only six minutes. … He has 3 points and 1 board. Not trying to put all the burden on him, but that’s bad enough to get the Braves beat. …

Second half coming up …

For the second time tonight, the big commercial board has run a replay of Coleco Buie’s game-winner over Bradley in the 1997 MVC tournament. It’s up for vote as one of the “top moments” in the history of the MVC tourney’s 20 years in St. Louis. Must be the only one involving the Bears, since it’s the only one showing here when I’ve been watching. … Well, not exactly “involving” the Bears. If Deon Jackson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer for Bradley to beat the Bears in 1996 isn’t the all-timer, I don’t know what is. …

Bradley opens the second half with its starting five on the floor. … And the Braves give up another 3 to Weems. … Good lord, GUARD THE GUY! … Now the Bears get inside. Les is looking disgusted. This game is starting to slip away. … Bradley not at all alive on either end to start the half; a common malady for the Braves. This time, though, they don’t have a lead to squander; just a deeper hole to dig. … Bradley finally scores on a pair of FTs by Brown. it’s 57-43, Bears. … Egolf powers through the post for a pair. … But on the other end, ANOTHER ORB for Mo State. Good lord, PUT A BODY ON SOMEBODY AND GET A BOARD! … Familiar refrains? …

The Mo State students got a kick out of Maniscalco, who just gathered the BU troops in front of them for a quick huddle, by motioning his hands quickly and saying, “Hey, hey, hey!” So now, all the MSU students are shouting “Hey, hey, hey!” Not unison chanting. Sounds like a “Hey” machine gun. … Pretty funny. …

Bradley simply not going strong to the boards, while Mo State is crashing. No fear of possible fouls, just going for the ball hard. … The Bears are going hard for everything, which is why they are dominating this game. …

Timeout at 15:49 — Mo State 58, Bradley 47

Brown gets blocked by Creekmore, then goes back up and shorts the putback. … Now twice, a DRB goes through Egolf’s hands — both hands. … Singh and Eastman in for Egolf and Brown. … If Bradley gets back into this — IF — I predict it will go like this: The Braves will trim to a one-possession game, or maybe almost a one-possession game, and then be unable to finish. They’ll feel good about not quitting, etc., and talk about “getting closer.” … But really, this is just more of the same. … DSE misses two FTs, but gets an extra chance at the second due to a lane violation. He makes that one. Twelve-point margin. … Bradley playing zone the last few possessions. … A 1-3-1 that leads to giving up another ORB, which leads to a second-chance 3 by Leonard. … And another ORB and putback by the Bears. … Bradley looks about as close to hopeless as a basketball team can look. …

Timeout at 11:53 — Mo State 69, Bradley 50

All right! Band playing the “Time Warp”! But I don’t see anybody doing the dance. Wait! Two guys, one in a sparkly gold sport coat, are doing the Time Warp. Can’t listen to the “Time Warp” without doing the Time Warp. … Once upon a long time ago, Susan Sarandon was hot. … Sorry. …

Brown hits a 3 from the corner. … And BU gives a corner 3 right back to Weems. He has 30 now. … Ricks hits a 3 and the Bears lead is 20 points. …

Whoa. Ricks just got decked at midcourt. I think it was by a screen, but I didn’t see who nailed him; I was watching up court. Happened in transition. Fans didn’t like it. … No calls, so it was either a clean hit or the refs didn’t see it. …

Bradley just isn’t a good team. … The Braves are capable of playing well, but they don’t do it near enough. … Body language is bad again. Effort lags. … No fire again today, and that’s the biggest downside. Even if you’re outhorsed, you can play with passion. Zippo, with occasional exceptionis. …

Timeout at 7:16 — Mo State 81, Bradley 57

The only thing that stops Mo State from scoring 100 is Mo State. … Bradley offering no resistance to much of anything the Bears want to do. …

Anthony Thompson enters the game. And for all his ability to run, he jogs up the court after a made Mo State basket and almost gets in the way of the play; trailing all the way. You gotta work harder than that. … Jones dunks a putback for Mo State. … Well, one guy from BU wants to play: DSE drives to the hole and scores on consecutive possessions. …

Timeout at 3:43 — Mo State 87, Bradley 67

Wow, not even a half-hearted comeback here. …

Other than Maniscalco, Warren and Brown, the rest of the Braves need to spend more time practicing FTs. … But that’s the least of their worries today. … The towel has been thrown in: BU lineup on the court is Phillip;s, Eastman, Thompson, McCain and Knezevic. …

All we await is the final score:

Final score — Missouri State 88, Bradley 69

The battle for Bradley now is to stay out of the MVC tournament play-in round. Man, that’s not the goal you want with 13 conference games left to play, but barring a miracle, that’s the reality.

Bradley freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards returned to uniform Wednesday night in pregame warmups as the Braves prepared for Indiana State at Carver Arena.

Simms-Edwards has been practicing of late, but  it wasn’t known prior to the game whether he would play. Simms-Edwards, who had earned a key role as a backcourt reserve, has missed the last three weeks with a stress fracture.

Business to attend before the game tonight: A reception sponsored by the B-Club, which will be honoring Max Seibel, the late Journal Star sportswriter, with an honorary letter during halftime ceremonies. Max covered BU basketball, football and track from the late 1940s into the 1960s. He moved on to Wichita, then to Phoenix, where he gained national acclaim as a golf writer. Paul King, retired JS sports editor, will accept the award on behalf of Max’s widow, Sarah, who can’t make it. King, my colleague Dave Reynolds and I are part of the halftime ceremonies as well.

After the reception, I’ll head to Carver Arena for the game, and we’ll see if the Braves can stop this three-game home losing streak. …

Dyricus Simms-Edwards is warming up. Seems he will see his first action since the loss to Western Carolina on Dec. 7. He had a reported pre-stress condition in his left foot. …

The refs tonight are Kelly Self, Don Daily and Brad Gaston.

Bradley’s lineup will be Sam Maniscalco, Taylor Brown, Chris Roberts, Andrew Warren, Will Egolf. Indiana State counters with Brant Leitnaker, Rashad Reed, Dwayne Lathan, Harry Marshall, Carl Richard. … So Brown’s suspension — er, “coach’s decision” — amounts to one game. … Looks like the crowd will be relatively sparse tonight. I’m sure this is weather-related. We’re predicted for 5-8 inches over the next 24 hours — that’s of snow — and it has already started falling. And the team has lost three straight at home, so that doesn’t help matters. Still, there’s a solid group of kids ringing the floor for the lineups. …

Tipoff coming up …

Bradley opens with a backdoor play for Egolf; nicely done. … But the Sycs spring Leitnaker for a corner 3 after a nice sequence of their own. … So that’s how it starts. … Both teams playing fairly good D, and both teams showing patience on offense. … Brown drives an angle for a layup and three-point play. … Bradley’s defense is active; already a pair of deflections in the first 90 seconds. … Bradley runs down a long rebound off the Sycs board and transitions for two points. … I like the way Egolf has flown to the boards the last three games. Even when he doesn’t corral the rebound, he’s getting a hand on the ball, keeping it alive, giving himself or a teammate a chance. But now Sam Singh comes in for him. Hmmmm. … Maniscalco hits a 3 to put the Braves up 10-5. That’s a second-chance basket. … Tie game on a 3 by Jordan Printy of the Sycs. … Bradley getting to the paint a lot now; not always converting, but getting in there with the ball, aggressively. … And a nice fastbreak off a steal for Bradley. Roberts with the theft of a pass, then 2-on-2 and he deaks his man from the wing, allowing Maniscalco to get all the way to the basket to receive the pass and score the layup. … Whoa! Singh gets an offensive rebound and scores. That’s five second-chance points for BU. …

Timeout at 13:10 — Bradley 16, Indiana State 12

So far BU is 7-for-12. Rebounds are tied 5-5. BU has five assists and no turnovers; Indiana State three and one. …

Jake Eastman and Eddren McCain enter for BU at the break. … Brown gets an ORB, then drives for two in the ensuing possession for more second-chance points. … Warren a transition 3. … Bradley looking good — but then, we’ve seen the Braves look good in the first half several times. It’s the closing out that has become a major problem. …

Timeout at 11:14 — Bradley 21, Indiana State 14

 Mark Scott, who has gained some level of notoriety for his foot-stomping, screaming ways as a front-row fan, does the Buffalo Wild Wings layup-3-halfcourt promotion at halftime. Reynolds suggests maybe the refs should stomp their feet and scream at him. … Scott hits his bunny, makes his second 3, misses badly on two halfcourt shots and then his last one rolls in and out. … He wants another. No chance. …

Roberts misses two free throws; that’s not a good sign. … DSE gets off the bench and starts to take off his warmup jacket. … Now he’s in the game for Warren at 10:52, to nice applause from the crowd. … Roberts misses two more FTs, and BU is 1-for-5 at the line. Better hope this doesn’t become a down-to-the-wire affair because of those. … Singh scores again on an inbounds play; J from the FT line. … DSE forces a turnover, the Sycs’ fifth. … Bradley’s nine-point lead suddenly down to three after a pair of 3-pointers by InState. … Warren breaks the BU free-throw curse with a pair of makes. … Warren scrambles to make a nice flying block of a 3-point attempt near the right corner, Roberts grabs the loose ball and pushes the pace, but the Braves get disorganized inside 20 feet and lose the ball. Too much thoughtless passing there. Aggressiveness went overboard, and too much force resulted in Brown getting called for a charge. …

Timeout at 7:44 — Bradley 25, Indiana State 20

The Sycs hit another 3, while toughening their own D. Bradley not getting into the paint … At all. … Singh settles for a 16-footer and airballs it. … Koang Doluony has come off the InState bench and sparked with some active D, rebounds and 8 points — two 3s and a putback ORB. … Bradley answers with back-to-back 3s by Warren and Roberts, prompting Kevin McKenna to call timeout for the Sycs. … McKenna lived in Peoria for a short time as a kid; went to Holy Family School on Sterling. … He’s in his second season at InState after a long stint assisting Dana Altman at Creighton. Doing a nice job. As Reynolds noted in his preview of this game, Indiana State has won 17 of 23 games since last Feb. 4. … Oops, Anthony Thompson gets burned in the post by Josh Crawford of InState — but Crawford misses the wide-open dunk and Roberts drills a 3 in secondary transition for the Braves, who are now up 11. …

Timeout at 2:30 — Bradley 36, Indiana State 25

Bradley’s only turnover to this point is Brown’s charge. Eleven assists. Boy, if you could do that every night, both halves, you’d have something special. … Eastman hits a 3. …

Gonna have to blow off the final minute of the half to go line up for the halftime ceremony. Will update as soon as we’re done with that. …

Furioius final minute, with Maniscalco hitting a 3 at the buzzer.

Halftime score — Bradley 45, Indiana State 29

Bradley ends on a 20-4 spurt. Now, the Braves need to start a second half the same way. … BU shooting 53.1 percent to InState’s 37.9. Bradley 14-1 assist-to-turnover, and InState is 6-6. InState leads the boards 18-17 and second-chance points 8-7. … BU up in the paint 16-12. … Maniscalco has 11 points and Warren 10; Brown has 9 with 5 rebounds and Roberts 6 points with 5 boards. … Doluony leads the Sycs with those 8 fast points he got, and nobody else is really damaging Bradley at all. …

Second half coming up …

Marshall opens the half with a three-point play for InState. … And now he gets a steal. So BU already has as many turnovers in the first minute of the second half as it did the whole first half. … Lathan hits the deck in a scramble under the Sycs basket, tied up by Roberts for a jumpball that will go Bradley’s direction. He’s down a little while and finally gets up and limps off. May just be shaken up. We’ll see. …

Bradley runs its backdoor lob, but Indiana State almost intercepts. … BU misses anyway and Richard scores inside for the Sycs, who have run five to start the half. … Warren gets fouled on a 3 and will shoot FTs; he makes two. … Another 3 by Printy, and the margin is down to 10 just three minutes in. … Another slow second-half start for BU. … Singh in for Egolf after WE hits a pair of FTs. … Really bad pass from Brown sails out of bounds. He was trying to lob cross court to McCain, but was nowhere close. … Now it’s Indiana State getting deflections and loose balls and disrupting BU. … Sycs are energized, and Marshall gets fouled going to the basket. … Jim Les is ticked at no foul called when DSE goes for a tough shot inside. Les gets walked back to his huddle. …

Timeout at 15:50 — Bradley 49, Indiana State 38

Brown has all three Bradley turnovers to this point. … The official attendance is 8,618, which is tickets sold. That means the appearance of CAT car NASCAR driver Jeff Burton — game ticket earned admission to see him with the car in the Civic Center Exhibit Hall — didn’t get people to buy tickets to see the Braves. … And I’ll bet there’s not much more than 6,000 in the house. Lots of empties in season-ticket areas. …

The only starter in the game for BU right now is Warren. He’s with Singh, Eastman, DSE and McCain. … Egolf in for Singh at 14 minutes, and the Sycs cut the lead to eight on a 3-pointer. … And now it’s six points on an ORB by Richard. Les wants timeout at 13:03, with BU up 53-47. …

This is getting ridiculous; these second-half collapses. I understand basketball is a game of runs, and teams adjust and re-adjust, etc. But this is in another realm. Still plenty of time, and maybe the Braves will win by 20. …

Anybody wanna bet? …

Back in play with Maniscalco, McCain, Warren, Brown and Egolf. … Until Singh replaces Egolf again. … A 3 by Reed, and InState has cut the lead to three, and that only took eight minutes. Singh gets outjumped and outfought for a rebound. … Marshall ties it with a 3. Les has his arms folded, looking disgusted, and he calls another time.

And here come the boos. …

Reynolds is a funny guy. He suggested: “I think the whole team should see a therapist, but every session should last 40 minutes.” …

Airball 3 by Roberts with 3 seconds left on the shot clock, by InState can’t hold onto the rebound. …

Timeout at 10:48 — Bradley 53, Indiana State 53

Bradley still not getting to the paint. Braves got 12 of their first 16 points in the paint, in the first seven minutes of the game. Since then: four total. That’s in almost 23 minutes. … And it’s not just that they’re not scoring, they’re not even getting there. …

Turnover off the inbounds play, but InState can’t capitalize. … Brown gets the ball low, gets into the paint and gets fouled. He makes both FTs. But now InState takes the lead on a 3 by Printy from the corner. … Bad pass by Brown trying to hit Singh inside, and a 3 by Aaron Carter puts the Sycs up by four. … Warren settles for an NBA 3 that misses badly. He does track down his board, but then Maniscalco misses a 3. It’s like they’re hardly even trying to drive and get inside anymore. …

Trying to figure out how a team can play so crisply and so confidently for 20 minutes, and then play as if it’s the first time any of the players have touched a ball. No confidence at all. It’s like the Braves come into the second half expecting to get run over by a train. …

Timeout at 7:43 — Indiana State 59, Bradley 57

So that’s 12 points in 12 minutes for BU, while giving up 30. Anybody out there want to vomit?

Bradley has almost caught InState in turnovers now. The Sycs have two this half for a total of eight, and BU has six/seven. BU has only one assist this half. …

Reed drains an NBA 3 for the Sycs. … Bradley gets all gummed up, trapped in InState’s zone, and has to call a timeout to avoid losing a looming jumpball situation. … BU has only one timeout left. Not that timeouts have done the Braves any good this half anyway. … Maniscalco hits a 3 against the shot clock. Good that he hit it, but BU had no other shot that possession, and no more time to look for another one. Still not solving this zone. …

Eastman gets the ball on the wing and drives hard for a pullup J. He banks it in and gets fouled. A good aggressive play. Now Les sends DSE in to replace him. But Eastman misses the FT, and DSE has to wait till Egolf rebounds and gets fouled. Now DSE is in, and Eastman is on the bench. Why? And Egolf makes only one of two. But the game is tied at 63, so BU has some life. …

Until Reed hits another 3. BU’s 3-point defense has taken leave the last couple of games. The Sycs have hit 14 so far; at least half of the total taken. … DSE gets called for a charge. He did. Stuck his arm out and knocked the guy down on a drive. … At least he was driving to the basket. Now Roberts replaces DSE — and fouls Reed shooting on the wing. … That’s two more InState FTs. … Warren scores for BU, and then Egolf steps in and takes a charge — I think he was just outside the imaginary box, but I have to imagine that — and Warren scores a 3 from the corner to re-tie the score. … Crowd coming alive for the first time — until Warren runs down and jacks a long 3. … But bless Egolf, who steps in and takes another charge. …

Timeout at 3:39 — Bradley 68, Indiana State 68

The magic number on the back of the tickets tonight — free food in 2-for-1 deals at several local eateries! — is 69. So we have a chance to see Bradley reach that number again. But the Braves have to win to cash in the eats. …

Indiana State has tied the Carver Arena record for an opponent’s 3s, with 14. Dayton set that record in 1990. … The most ever yielded by BU anywhere is 15, by SIU in 1996, at Carbondale. That info from Bobby Parker, the Bradley SID. …

Nice little give and go from Maniscalco to Egolf for a layup and a foul. … Well, well, well, seems Mr. Egolf wants to win this game. … He converts and BU is back up by three. We have free food if the Braves win. … But Printy breaks the Carver Arena opponent record and ties the all-time 3 mark against the Braves — and ties the game. … Warren strikes back with a 3. … Well, at least this is fun to watch. …

Inside two minutes and BU has the ball back with a three-point lead. … Spread and holding. … Maniscalco throws the ball away when he overpenetrates. … Printy misses a 3. … Seems everybody wants to be a 3-point dude. … Not sure why he took that one. … BU against the clock, and Maniscalco misses a 3. He had to chase a deflection into the backcourt and had to launch on the run coming back. … Inside a minute, and Marshall is fouled and shoots a bonus situation for InState. Makes the business end and finishes it off. Margin is one. … InState wants timeout. …

Timeout at :52.9 — Bradley 74, Indiana State 73

Maniscalco gets stripped, but Doluony can’t convert the ensuing layup. I mean, Doluony just ripped the ball out of Sammy’s hands coming off the inbounds pass. … Ball goes OB, and it’ll belong to Bradley. … Now the refs can’t figure out how much time has gone off the clock since the timeout. The clock says 40.2 seconds left. Apparently, they think more time actually remains. … No change, after all that. …

Indiana State fouls on the inbounds and will send DSE will go to the FT line. … He splits and BU is up a pair. … Two seconds between game and shot clocks. … Printy gives InState the lead with another 3, and that’s the record against BU in one game: 16. … Roberts drives the baseline and gets fouled going to the rack. … McKenna calls timeout. Roberts is 0-for-4 at the line, and what was that I said when he missed those four early in the game? Make those, and all you need here is one to make it a two-possession game with 16.9 left. Instead, you need one just to tie and two to go ahead. …

Clank. Timeout by McKenna again. Might as well make Roberts get even more nervous. He looked awful going to the line. Working his shoulders to try to relax and all. No confidence. … Now it’s time to see if he can tie the game: Good. Swish. Tied. …

Marshall holds the ball till four seconds left and starts to drive. He’s guarded by Maniscalco, then slips and falls and is called for traveling at the free-throw line. We have 0.9 seconds and it’s BU ball. …

Just noting that the last five minutes have taken almost 30 minutes to play. This does not matter to you. It matters to me and newspaper deadline, though. You know, those things still exist. …

OK. InState will guard DSE inbounding. … Warren grabs, travels, gets by and launches a halfcourt 3. ..

We’re going overtime! — Bradley 76, Indiana State 76

If these next five minutes take 30, the paper is in trouble. …

Brown gets to the paint, but his shot gets blocked. … InState tipin by Richard, and the Sycs are up two. … Now Brown gets an ORB for Bradley and gets fouled going back up; has a chance to tie. That’s a double-double for Brown, but he misses both FTs. … What was that line? Oh, yeah: Make free throws, win game; miss free throws, lose game. … Egolf ties the game. … Now Brown steals, leads a 2-on-1 and dishes to Warren for the layup and the lead. … No luck for Egolf trying to pick up a third charge; he gets his fourth foul, blocking Marshall’s drive to the basket. Tied again. …

At least the Braves have shown some spunk down the stretch tonight. … Maniscalco 3 behind a screen by Egolf. Nicely done. … Marshall drives and scores at the basket. Had to work for it. … BU turnover. … InState can’t convert and loses an ORB attempt out of bounds. … Warren has a career-high 26 points. … Marshall has to come out for a minute with blood on his finger. … We have 1:26 left and BU up a point. … Braves spread and take their time. … Broken play that Brown saves with a 3 from the left corner as shot clock dies, and then Egolf steals on the other end. … Maniscalco will go to the line. The crowd is on its feet, smelling a home victory for the first time since November. … First FT rolls home, second in and out. …

Doluony called for a foul going for an ORB for the Sycs. McKenna not happy, since the call on the ball going OB was to InState. … We play some pinball and miss FTs on each end. With 22 seconds left, Maniscalco goes to the line with a five-point lead. He splits the pair, so it’s still two possessions. … Marshall scores and InState calls time at :15.1. The margin is four. …

BU able to run five-plus seconds off the clock before Maniscalco is fouled. McKenna not happy with that. … Six-point lead again. … And that will do it. …

Final score — Bradley 91, Indiana State 85

As Bradley’s struggles continue, the passions of the program’s loyal fans are heating up. Read some of the discussions here, here, here, here  and here. Jump in, if you wish.

The latest furor surrounds sophomore forward Taylor Brown. He didn’t play today at Wichita State; third game he has sat out this season. We assume the first game, and perhaps the second, of the season were due to his arrest in September for an altercation on campus with a non-BU student. But we don’t know for certain, because it is the policy of coach Jim Les not to discuss the reasons for disciplinary action. We don’t know the reasons today, either. Les declines to discuss. I do find it curious he called the benching a “coach’s decision” and not a suspension. To me, a “coach’s decision” is play-related: The coach doesn’t like a player’s performance in a game, or his practice habits; things like that. If the benching is due to off-court behavior, that’s a suspension, and I really don’t understand why the word play.

I’m going to assume this was a suspension, whether Les wants to call it that or not. I think that’s safe, given that Brown scored 25 points Friday against SIU. Well, good for Les. I’d love to know what rule, or rules, Brown violated, but in the big picture, it really doesn’t matter. At least not right now. What matters is that Brown didn’t live up to responsibilities off the court, and he sat this one out. Maybe he’ll sit more. We’ll see. But bending rules is a recipe for losing control of a player and a team. Making sure a player — even the best player, perhaps especially the best player — is held accountable is part of the coach’s job. If Brown breaks a rule and gets a pass, what’s the rest of the team to think?

You’ll see from some of the discussions, linked above, that people are fearing that Brown might get tired of these benchings and leave. I have to ask: If this is a kid who can’t behave himself, if he thinks his personal life choices are more important than the interests of the team, do you really want him around? Please note: I’m not saying Brown is bad seed, or that he’s overly selfish, not a team player, etc. But if he is, and if that’s disruptive to the team, and if he doesn’t respond in a positive manner to the disciplinary actions, then let him go. And don’t worry about what a talent he is. Just deal with the loss and move on. Otherwise, you don’t have a credible program.

I don’t see that happening. From what our beat reporter, Dave Reynolds, tells me this afternoon, Brown’s body language on the bench was top notch. He was cheering his teammates, involved, not sulking in any way. Take that as a positive.

And please don’t compare it to the Danny Granger debacle in Les’s first season. No comparison whatsoever. None.

Les was a rookie coach then. He made a lot of mistakes, because he had no experience handling kids. The infamous “no-food” punishment after the road loss was just one of several errors in judgment. Did that factor into Granger leaving? Maybe. Maybe it was a small fraction of his decision. Very small. Trouble had been brewing long before that. I don’t want to reopen the argument over whether Granger was “stolen” by New Mexico. The fact is, nobody was blameless. Les made mistakes handling Granger. Granger and his father made mistakes in the way they responded. New Mexico’s coaches made mistakes by being in contact with Granger. Take New Mexico’s rule-busting out of the equation, and at best, Granger stays through that season and then still leaves Bradley. He had come to BU to play for Jim Molinari, who got fired. He didn’t hit it off with Les, who replaced Mo. Like a lot of these situations, the rub was a two-way street. End of story.

There’s no evidence that Les is abusing the players. Not even an allegation of that. I don’t know all his rules, but from what I’ve seen, I don’t think they’re too stringent. If anything, he might be too lenient; giving too much rope to young men to make good decisions without a babysitter. Not naming names, but I hear over and over of BU players — including guys who aren’t 21 – hanging out in bars around town; some showing up in the 4 a.m. closing district after returning road games. If I’m hearing about that, I have no doubt Les is aware. That said, the instances of his guys getting in legal trouble – i.e. arrested — have been rare. So I’m inclined to believe that whatever Brown has done to get suspended, it wasn’t penny-ante stuff. That’s not to say it was felonious; we don’t know. But it was serious enough for serious action, and Brown knows it. Whether he can avoid recurrences is another question.

All of this is separate from Les’s coaching abilities and the state of the program. Yes, ultimately they’re all related, but I want a coach who sets reasonable rules, enforces them and imposes appropriate disciplinary action when necessary.

    

Back to the television for this one. Dave Reynolds is on the beat in Wichita, while I’m in the basement — although not in my jammies. A little different perspective. Just finished a nice lunch of lasagna, cooked by the fabulous MariaFrancesca. Ready to blog!

Just got the word Taylor Brown won’t play today. No explanations, but seems he must have violated team rule of some sort. Sam Singh will start in his place, meaning the Braves will go big.

The refs are good: Steve Olson, Paul Janssen, Kelly Self. Good crew.

 Wichita State is honoring the old MTXE team from the early 1980s — the one that got the Shockers put on NCAA probation for things like, oh, buying a house for a player’s mom, etc. Under Gene Smithson, this was a big-time bandit program. But hey, cheer because they were big winners, right?

Tipoff

We have about a six-second delay between TV and radio. Radio is ahead today. … There’s a good start, with Sam Maniscalco driving in transition, through defenders for a layup, a foul and a three-point play. … Andrew Warren makes a nice drive and spin jumper in the lane for BU, now up 5-2. … Now a 3 for Warren on the move. … Egolf gets his second foul, bumping on a drive after getting stripped. … That’s going to hurt. …

Under-16 timeout — Bradley 8, Wichita State 6

Very disappointing, the Brown situation. This team continues to have some issues internally; not sure what they are, but this would seem to be a sign these Braves still aren’t all on the same page. This is a time when the team needs to be pulling together, and now its most talented player gets himself benched. Kudos to Jim Les for enforcing disciplinary measures, but this shouldn’t happen. … Anthony Thompson in for Egolf. … Wichita State up 12-11 quick coming out of the break. …

Maniscalco a nice drive for reverse layup; tough play through the heart of the WSU defense. … Risk here: Egolf back in the game for Singh, but operating with a short roster, there’s not much choice. …

Timeout at 11:38 — Bradley 13, Wichita State 12

So far, Bradley has come out with requisite intensity. This will be a very difficult game: on the road, against a Shockers club with a strong front line, with the Braves shorthanded and missing their leading scorer. … Chris Roberts drove and was fouled before the TO, and he comes out and makes both FTs to expand the margin to three. … Shockers tie with a 3. … Eddren McCain gets his hand into a ball and forces a Shox turnover. … Now a nice, tough offensive sequence by BU with Maniscalco hitting a FT-circle J. … Knezevic gets called for a grab in the post, and now Wichita State gets an offensive rebound, misses the second chance, but Knezevic picks up a quick second foul on that one. … This is no day to get into foul trouble. … Shox can’t capitalize with a FT. They do get a 3 to retake the lead, but Warren hits a baseline J and gets fouled; his FT puts BU back in the lead. … Pretty good game so far. Bradley doing what it needs to do: Now Roberts grabs a D rebound, outlets to Maniscalco, who drives to the basket and scores and gets fouled. He makes the FT and BU is up 23-19. … But Toure Murry drains an NBA 3-pointer for Wichita. … Now, Warren battles for an ORB and puts it back in. He’s playing well. …

Timeout at 7:00 — Bradley 25, Wichita State 24

Maniscalco and Warren are doing what they should do every game: Lead. They’re junior tri-captains. This is their job. … Maniscalco with a nice dish to Jake Eastman, who scores. … Les doing a nice job with defenses. Braves have mixed man with a 2-3 and a 1-3-1 so far. Got to keep the Shox off balance. … Like the way BU is battling on the boards. The Braves have let a couple of boards get away, but for the most part, they’re blocking out and chasing down the ball, up, down, on the fly, wherever. … Now Murry scores against Thompson, who offers a weak foul. Man, if you’re going to foul the guy at the basket, hammer him! Stop the points. Murry’s FT puts Wichita State up by a pair, 29-27. …

Out of a timeout, McCain hits Thompson with a pass on a screen-and-roll, and AT gets fouled. This is AT’s chance for some extended minutes, to show he can tough-up and contribute. He makes both FTs to tie. … BU changes defenses again and Wichita throws the ball away. … AT dunks! off a pass from Eastman. Nice sequence, with McCain and Eastman handing off and shoveling in close to get AT the ball, open for the slam. …

Timeout at 3:26 — Bradley 31, Wichita State 31

Eastman misses the biz end of a bonus situation. Another strange situation of a good shooter struggling at the line. … Shox score inside, but Eastman comes back with a tough drive and bucket in trafffic. … Now McCain skies for a tip-in. … I’d really like to see Edge get his confidence back. … OK, guys, you gotta guard Clevin Hannah, no matter how far from the basket he is. He nails an open long 3. … Roberts has the answer, though, and BU right back on top. … Now, the Braves leave a shooter wide open; Wichita gets good ball movement and a 3 to go back on top,. … The Shox play frantic D on BU’s final possession, and Roberts forces a long, long 3 that bullets off the board. The ball winds up in the hands of Warren whose shot just before the buzzer is blocked. AW hits the deck, but the replay shows that was one heck of a nice, clean pick; right off the top of his hands. Looks like it was blocked by Gabe Blair, but I couldn’t tell for sure. …

Halftime — Bradley 39, Wichita State 38

Halftime interview on TV with new athletics director Michael Cross, but the sound is screwed up and it’s almost inaudible. …

Bradley fans have to like the way the Braves are playing. There’s a toughness tonight that has been too rare this season. Thing is, you can’t wait to have a mountain in your lap before you respond this way. I know it’s the learning experience is constant for all of us, but when you have veteran players, they’re supposed to have learned some of these adversity/toughness lessons and be able to lead your younger guys. … And do it before Game 13. …

Both teams are shooting 50 percent from the floor. Bradley is 7-of-8 from the line, and the Shox have shot only three FTs, which is good, considering the quick fouls Bradley got. … Braves holding their own on the boards, down just 17-15 to a team that is plus-7.3 on the boards for the season. … Handling well, too: Only four turnovers. … Halftime ceremony features those old Shox, and coach Not-so-Clean Gene Smithson has the microphone. …

Second half, coming up …

Shox open with a good sequence and a 3 by Hannah. … Much more Shox energy on defense, and Maniscalco misses a 3 as the shot clock expires. … Now Wichita crashes the offensive glass, and Murry hits the second-chance 3, and it’s a seven-point spread. … Bradley has to get its act together right now. … Egolf loses the ball off the block. … And now J.T. Durley makes two FTs for a nine-point bulge. … Les wants time out. … The roundhouse is rocking, and Bradley is teetering. …

That’s disappointing. You had to know this was how Wichita would come out of the locker room. Had to. Had to know your intensity couldn’t simply match theirs; had to be higher. It’s not, and now, the Braves are in trouble. The last thing they need is to fall behind big and have to dig out of a hole again. …

The set play leaves Warren open for an NBA 3, but he misses and Wichita State scores fast on the other end. Ten-point run, and now an illegal screen called on Singh. … This is about to become a mess. … Maniscalco stops the run with a pull-up 3. …. Ouch! Murry is left WIDE OPEN, but he misses. … Wow, how did he get that open at the end of a nice defensive stand by the Braves? …

Timeout at 15:26 — Wichita State 49, Bradley 41

Egolf gets his third; a tough call as he aggressively chases down a rebound. He gets called for shoving off. Probably did on a call that could go either way. … At least Bradley has stemmed the Shox’ run. Now the Braves have to chip away and get back. … Egolf runs the floor and gets fouled going to the rack; he makes both FTs, and the margin is eight. Egolf comes out; probably a good move with 13 minutes still to play. Protect him. …

Good defensive stand by the Braves, but now Singh travels in the post. … Murry almost loses the ball for Wichita but regathers and scores. … Now another BU turnover, and all the hard work is going for naught. …

Timeout at 11:56 — Wichita State 55, Bradley 45

Now, that’s bad. Garrett Stutz crashes through three Braves for an ORB and gets fouled. BU just flat-footed on that one. … Another BU turnover; traveling on Eastman in the open court. … Another Stutz ORB for two points, and the only way Bradley wins this game is if Wichita State is as inept down the stretch at home as Bradley has been. …

McCain drives hard, gets fouled, swishes two FTs. If this kid could hit perimeter shots like that, he’d give BU a good and dependable point guard again, and that could change some things for the better. That’s what BU started the season thinking it would get. So far, though, McCain still can’t hit a shot. … Now Egolf gets his fourth foul. Sticks Thompson comes back in to replace him. … Egolf was a bright spot the other night against SIU, getting a double-double for the first time in his career, but he’s having a tough time today. … BU hanging nine points down. … Durley backs Thompson down in the post; just butts him away and scores. Sticks has to learn to get into his man and hold him off. … Now BU leaves Durley open for a 3, which he makes. …

Timeout at 7:01 — Wichita State 65, Bradley 54

Play stops because Warren has a bloody nose. It fits. …

Maniscalco layup out of the timeout. … Now a runout and McCain drives for a layup but called for traveling. I’d like to see a replay. That looked like every other drive. … And there goes the mo, as Shocks score. So instead of cutting to seven, they’re back down 11. … That’s one of the problems with these Comcast telecasts: few, if any, replays. I’m not a fan of replays all over the place, but sometimes they’re helpful. … Another obersvation: During the play stoppage, the picture quality was very good, but as soon as the action resumed, it got fuzzy again. … Whatever. …

McCain scores inside. He’s at least starting to play close to the level he played last year. Now, if he could just hit perimeter shots — and then hit them enough that defenses must respect him. … Now traveling against BU again, and I think this one definitely was. … Getting close to the time for Wichita to pull a Bradley home fold. … Tough drive and score by Maniscalco and a foul. He’ll shoot when we come back from …

Timeout at 3:53 — Wichita State 70, Bradley 60

Maniscalco makes the FT, but Shox get a runout. … Warren bombs a 3 and it’s an eight-point spread at 3:24. … BU calls time and is going to try to claw its way into a frantic finale. … The Braves will need some Shockers help, though. … Bradley tough D now, good double in the post and chasing on the perimeter. … But Shox score when Egolf goes for a fake. Gotta stay down, son. … Missed 3 for Roberts. … This one’s gonna be over: Wichita runs down a long ORB, Bradley fouls, and Shockers lead by 12 with 1:44 to play. …

This is why that two-minute meltdown Friday against SIU is so awful. It would have been very difficult for BU to win today; Wichita is going to contend for the MVC title. Not likely anyone in the league will win there. But that’s why you can’t give away a win at home, like Bradley did. Instead of 2-1, the Braves are 1-2 in the MVC. Not done, but not in good shape. … There’s a nice slam by Roberts, but it really means nothing, other than at least the Braves are continuing to play even though there’s no doubt about the outcome. …

Don’t go spinning that. Bradley fans should be sick to death of the spin right now. The Braves – and that includes the entire coaching staff — have nobody but themselves to blame for being 6-7 overall right now, and 1-2 right now. Whether it’s players not holding up their responsibilities, on or off the court, or Les and his assistants letting accountability slide too far — and they did that during the December swoon – everybody has screwed up. I do see some positive signs, such as McCain regaining some confidence and Maniscalco looking better today. But that’s all we see: signs here and there, and not enough good ones from half to half and game to game.

Final score — Wichita State 81, Bradley 69

Happy New Year, from courtside at Carver Arena. Will be interesting to see whether the Braves build on their win Tuesday night at Drake. They played hard in Des Moines; well at times, not so much at others, but still got the win. They need to keep playing hard tonight — and play better.

Everybody in the Valley played today. Creighton continues to dig itself a hole, going 0-2 to start the league season, losing on the road at Indiana State.

Refs here tonight are Gerry Pollard, Mike Stuart and Eric Curry. Hmmm. Stuart did the NCAA Final Four last year. Pollard … well, he’s not exactly a BU favorite. Curry, I’m not terribly familiar with.

Starting lineups for BU: Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. The Salukis go with Kevin Dillard, Tony Freeman, Justin Bocot, Jordan Myers, Nick Evans.

BTW, this is the first official day on the job for new Bradley athletics director Michael Cross. He’s in the house.

My colleague Dave Reynolds, needing something to poke me in fun, noted I’m eating chicken strips and fries again. Yup. At least I didn’t get lost on my way to the concession stand.

The kids are lined up around the court, three deep in some places. The alumni replacement band is enthusiastic and into the B-R-A-D-L-E-Y chant. Looks like there will be a pretty decent crowd of single-ticket buyers, as the sidelines have people almost to the top row. Have to wait and see how many no-shows among the regs who decided to stay home and watch the Rose Bowl. Sorry, can’t get into Ohio State and Oregon. The Tournament of Roses Parade this morning, however, was spectacular. Especially liked the long float with the snowboarding bulldogs and the Shanghai band that negotiated the hairpin corner with a trot-and-jam. Really cool.

Tipoff coming up

Correction on the lineup: Carlton Fay and not Myers, for the Salukis. … BU opens with first possession and Brown scores on a jumper in the paint. … Fay answers with a 3. … This SIU team is the most potent offensively for the Salukis in a decade. … Egolf battles to keep a Bradley miss alive, and Roberts recovers it and scores. … Now the teams trade layups in the flow of the offenses. … The D so far, not so good either way. … Egolf keeps alive another BU miss. Doing a good job getting his hands on the ball. … And another ORB for the Braves, after Egolf shot blocked. Roberts gets this one and it leads to a Warren jumper. … Lots of scoring both ways. We finally get a play stoppage. …

Timeout at 15:06 — Bradley 10, SIU 10

This ain’t the pace we’re used to seeing when the Salukis come to town.

There has been one good defensive stand so far. That was by SIU, which made BU eat most of the shot clock and miss a guarded 15-footer. But that’s been it. Bradley up 6-2 in the paint and 4-3 on second-chance baskets. Combined, the teams are 9-of-16 from the floor. …

Sam Singh and Eddren McCain replace Egolf and Maniscalco at the timeout. They immediately hook up on a high-low pass, but Singh can’t get his footing with a grip to pull the trigger and travels. … Nice drive by Warren into the paint for a teardrop. … There’s a good D stand by BU, and McCain hustles for the long board in the corner. … Now Warren pops a baseline jumper. … Bradley getting some nice ball movement, along with good cuts off the ball. … Brown makes the first two FT attempts of the game for either team to put BU up 16-12. … Bocot sticks a 3 for SIU. …

Timeout at 11:54 — Bradley 16, SIU 15

Bradley leads 6-2 on the boards; both teams shooting 60 percent-plus. SIU has six assists and BU four; each team has one turnover. … Brown out of the timeout hits a 3 off a pass from Jake Eastman, who checked in for Roberts…. Now a steal and breakaway by Brown, who’s fouled going to the rim. He makes both FTs. … Braves looking good. If they tighten up defensively and keep flowing on offense, and don’t lose focus (pick your ending). … Brown goes hard to the basket and gets fouled again; two more FTs and BU is up 23-15. … There’s a tough foul to take. Brown gets called for pushing Fay in the post, while Fay swings his elbows to try to back Brown off. … Ryan Phillips replaces Brown. … Right now the Braves have Maniscalco, Roberts, Phillips, Egolf and Warren on the floor. … Egolf is really alive on the boards. He has only one RB to his credit, but he has been in the mix, poking, slapping, keeping the ball alive. … Now an airball 3/pass by Maniscalco that Egolf hustles under to grab and score. … Warren posts and hits a nice fallaway from about 8 feet. … Nice! — Phillips grabs a defensive board, kicks to Maniscalco, who fires half-court pass to a running Warren, who hits a 3 from the wing and gets fouled; completes the four-point play and the Braves are up 31-20. … Playing very well. … Another deflection on defense, this one by Warren. … This is the best ball movement I’ve seen from the Braves this season. … Wow! There’s tough shot by Fay for the Salukis, surrounded by three Braves underneath. Don’t want to hear any griping from the BU fans after that, because he got hammered and got no whistle. …

Timeout at 7:20 — Bradley 31, SIU 22

Really nice crowd. I’d say over 11,000 tickets sold; we’ll see later if I’m right on that. Pretty safe to say close to a thousand fewer than that in the seats. …

Bradley ruling the boards; Eastman grabs one in traffic and BU has 12 to SIU’s 6. … Now Brown is fouled taking it hard to the basket again. Back to the line for two, which he makes for his 14th and 15th points so far. … Fay hits a 3, and next time down after a BU turnover he gets a second-chance layup, and the BU lead is down to four. … Roberts stops that run with a 3 from the corner against the shot clock. … Salukis’ defense was energized by its offense — a switch from what that program has been about since the days of Rich Herrin. … I really like how active Egolf is tonight. … Now, BU gets some snappy ball movement against some stiffer SIU defense, and Maniscalco makes a curl and hard drive down the lane, flips up a layup and gets fouled; FT puts the BU lead back to 10. … Phillips giving some tough minutes, but he gets outhorsed by Gene Teague, who is 6-9, 290 to Phillips’ 6-3, 210. Teague scores and finishes the three-point play, and Les uses his first-half timeout with the Braves up seven. …

Nice play springs Egolf all alone back door for a layup from Roberts. …

Timeout at 3:31 — Bradley 41, SIU 32

BU runs a nice play, Roberts hitting Warren on a cut down the lane for alayup. … Now a steal and runout dunk by Egolf, and Chris Lowery wants a timeout for the Salukis, with Bradley up 45-32. … My, oh, my. These are not the Salukis of the past decade, and Bradley is playing very well. …

Singh hits a FT jumper! PA Paul Herzog shouts: “Everybody makes one!” … Significantly, BU going big here with both Egolf and Singh in the game. … Egolf has 8 points and 6 rebounds — and just about snagged another one coming hard from the wing. … Warren gets fouled on a 3-point attempt again. He misses the first FT, but makes the other two and BU is up 49-36. …

Halftime — Bradley 49, SIU 36

That’s the Braves’ best half of the season. Defense got better as the half wore on; the offense was spiffy all 20 minutes. Stats momentarily. …

Bradley shot 60.7 percent; SIU 50 percent. BU leads the boards 17-10 and has five offensive RBs, on which the Braves are capitalizing: They’re up 8-5 in second-chance points. … Bradley 11 assists to only three turnovers; SIU is 11 and 4 there. BU has three steals. … Warren has 16 points and Brown 15, while Egolf has 8. Egolf leads rebounding with 7. … Fay tops the Salukis with 12 points, and no SIU player has more than three rebounds. … Bradley has been called for nine fouls, but three were on Phillips in his four minutes. Hey, the guy doesn’t mind being physical, and that’s what you have to bring, especially against SIU. … Even though the Salukis aren’t much interested in lockdown defense this season, they still have some beef and they like to knock people around. Phillips doesn’t mind knocking back. … I do wish we would see Milos Knezevic and Anthony Thompson soon. Yes, they both need to get tougher physically, but it’s important to get them into a game like this. You don’t learn to swim by standing on the pool deck, and you don’t learn to play physicaly basketball by sitting on the bench. …

Second half coming up. …

SIU opens with a 3. … Bradley misses, and Bocot goes coast to coast, and that’s five SIU points out of the blocks. … Brown hits a pullup banker for BU and it’s 51-41, a minute in. … Now the Salukis beat the Braves back in transition again for two more. … Bradley’s open is not encouraging; can’t afford to pull another fall-asleep like against Western Carolina and Loyola. … Another 3, by Freeman. … Fortunately for BU, SIU defense is pretty bad; Warren scores inside and now Brown gets fouled just before he gets to the basket, but not shooting. Nice follow by Egolf on a miss by Maniscalco, and the margin is nine points. … Bradley’s defense is a step slow in this half. … Singh in for Egolf. … Bradley keeps another ORB alive, corrals and Brown scores on a driver. …

Timeout at 15:26 — Bradley 57, SIU 47

Out of the timeout, Bradley runs a play for Brown, who takes a pass on the move to the basket and gets fouled. He makes both FTs and the lead is back to 12; Brown has 21 points. … Bears restating: Bradley’s ball movement tonight is very good. … Lowery is all over Bocot for not rebounding; running away from the defensive board to get a lead on the outlet. … SIU chipping away now, as Bradley misses a couple of shots and the Salukis are finding holes in the Bradley D. Dillard scores, gets fouled, and now Bocot and Roberts get whistled for technicals in an off-ball skirmish. Dillard completes the three-point play and the margin is six points. … Great pass by Eastman to Singh, who can’t finish. … BU needs Egolf back in the game, because the boards are drying up. … A Freeman 3 cuts the margin to three, and Bradley is blowing another second-half, double-digit lead at home. Not good. …

Les wants timeout at 12:32, with Bradley up 59-56. …

Interesting fact of this game: Bradley exploited SIU’s lack of D and rebounding in the first half to dominate. Now SIU is exploiting Bradley’s lack of D and rebounding to get back in. … Egolf coming back in …

Now McCain misses a top-key 3 that bounces over the board and OB. … Dillard misses a 3 and Bradley gets fouled on the board. Braves in the bonus with 12:01 left, so FTs are going to be critical. Bradley 14-of-16 so far; keep that up, and Braves will be in good shape; start missing and they’ll be in big trouble. … Warren at the line: he makes both. … Eastman scores in transition — a sloppy transition, but the end result is good. McCain with the ball on a 3-on-2 tries to thread the needle to Brown. The ball gets deflected and juggled. Brown is able to get his hands on it and hurl it back before falling OB, and Eastman grabs it to score the layup. …

Timeout at 11:25 — Bradley 63, SIU 56

Braves have to get tough again here.

Bradley’s shooting has tailed: only 5-for-15 in the second half, while SIU is still shooting at a 50 percent clip. …

BU comes out in a 1-3-1 zone and gets a steal, but Eastman called for a charge on the break. Tough call. He made a nice move to try to avoid contact and caught the defender’s shoulder. … Now, a great ORB by McCain, and Warren draws Fay’s fourth foul going to the basket for the second chance: AW makes both FTs and the lead is back to nine. … BU returns to the man-to-man, and Egolf grabs another RB. … Eastman called for an over-the-back foul while tipping in a miss. … I like the kid; guts and toughs. He makes some mistakes, but those will iron out. He hustles all the time, and that’s why he’s playing. … Brown drives the lane; nice lefty lay-in. … There’s Egolf’s 10th rebound, on the O board. … Back to a six-point game after a 3 by Bocot. … Now we have pinball on the floor. Ball going all over the place, squirting around, neither team with a handle until Roberts grabs it on the floor and Les calls for time out before anyone can tie him up. … Ragged, but fun. …

Timeout at 7:23 — Bradley 67, SIU 61

Braves have only 18 points in the second half. … Egolf has 10 and 10, the first double-double of his career, with his career-high in rebounds. … Brown posts up and hits the turnaround. … But a bad D possession and a turnover-runout return the margin to five points — until Roberts drives and scores and gets fouled. Bradley doing just enough to hold off each SIU run. Roberts misses the FT, his second miss in a row, and Brown fouls (his third) as the Salukis push to the basket in transition on the other end. Dillard splits the FTs, and BU up 72-66. … There’s a better offensive possession for BU: Brown drives and dishes to Egolf underneath, and WE gets fouled. But he misses the first, makes the second. This is no time to start missing FTs. That’s three of the last four attempts. … Bad pass by Brown leads to another SIU runout, and Warren gets his third foul trying to stop it. … The Salukis really push the pace these days. Bradley has to notch up its game here: Tighten the halfcourt D, get smarter on offense again, and stop the runouts. Five-point game. … Brown forces a drive, then works for the rebound and hits the deck; foul on Anthony Booker. … Now, Brown picks up his fourth, charging at the basket.

Timeout at 3:45 — Bradley 75, SIU 68

Battle of attrition. Fay in with four fouls, Brown with four fouls on the BU bench. Bocot also in with four. Forty-four fouls — and we’re not talking phantoms. … Egolf and Singh in together again. Good. BU was effective with that in the first half. … Booker tips one in for SIU and it’s a five-point game. … Warren hits a pair of FTs for BU: 77-70. … Dillard beats Roberts to the rim for a layup. … Bad pass Roberts to Egolf, and a runout by SIU, but the Salukis miss the layup. … And a really nice pass from Maniscalco to Egolf for a layup through the SIU defense about kills Lowery, who wants time at 1:40. Bradley up 79-72. …

Bradley in the 1-3-1, and Dillard gets open in the corner and makes a 3; four-point game with 86 seconds to play. … Warren misses connections with Brown against the SIU press and throws the ball away. Now a foul on Egolf — his fourth — and John Freeman shoots two: He makes both and it’s 79-77. … Now Maniscalco walks and Bradley is trying very hard to blow this to pieces. … Horrible. … Just coming unglued. … Again. … At home. …

Three turnovers in the first half for BU, nine in the second, and we’re not done yet. … Roberts fouls, and now Fay has a chance to tie with 52 seconds left. He does. …

Lowery tries to steal a timeout with this guys, but gets yelled at by the refs. He was trying to gather the players during a substitution, and it delayed the inbounds play. … Now a timeout by Les anyway at :46.7. … Very disappointing final 15 minutes for Bradley. Still a chance to win, but all the swagger they had for 25 minutes is gone. …

Now Egolf and Warren get stripped on a handoff, and SIU calls time at :36.2, with 28 on the shot clock. …. Dillard drills a 3 from the corner and BU is in a world of hurt. Maniscalco calls time in front of the BU bench with 21.3 left, and I’m hearing boos. … Deservedly so. …

Maniscalco lays one in and fouls on the inbounds. One-point game with Booker at the line for SIU. He makes both. … Maniscalco misses a 3, and the boos are cascading now. Fans streaming for the exits. Four seconds left and SIU about to salt this game at the line.

BU shoulders slumped. Staring in disbelief. Don’t know why. This is what happens when you stop playing. Again. You’d think this lesson would have been learned by now. As well as the Braves played for 25 minutes, they’ve been every bit as bad the final 10.

Final score — SIU 86, Bradley 81

No excuse for that one.

We’re here, at the Knapp Center on the Drake University campus. And we got here with my colleague Dave Reynolds doing all of the driving. We did have a wee spat, as we drove west on University, whether the campus and the arena were on our right or our left. I had not been here. I said right, because that’s what the map indicated. Dave, who has been here many times, swore left. So he turned left. And after about three blocks, he said, “You were right, it’s the other direction.” And so we arrived in plenty of time — although for about six panic-ridden seconds, I thought I had left my credential back in Peoria.

Anyway, it’s the Missouri Valley opener tonight. Big one for the Braves, as this is a game they ought to win, as Drake is shaping up as a contender for last place. In light of the Braves’ three-game losing streak and the way that has transpired, a loss tonight could start something really ugly, with two more games yet to play in the following five days. Which Braves will show up? The ones good enough to beat Illinois on a neutral court? Or the ones bad enough to lose two straight at home, including one to Loyola, and to be entirely non-competitive at Iowa State?

We shall see, soon enough.

Starting lineups: Bradley opens with no change: Sam Maniscalco, Andrew Warren, Chris Roberts, Taylor Brown, Will Egolf. Drake will start Ryan Wedel, Josh Young, Ben Simons, Adam Templeton, Seth Vandeest.

Also for BU, Ryan Phillips is in street clothes, apparently recovering from a concussion.

Tipoff coming up…

Templeton strikes first for Drake with a top-key 3. … Bradley right back with Brown in the post. … Egolf called for his first foul at 18:55, trying to stop Vandeest inside. … Next time down, BU plays a little better D, but Templeton gets Brown off his feet with a fake and steps up for an elbow J. … BU scores inside, but when Wedel misses a 3 for Drake, the Braves get outhustled for the board. … Sam Singh comes in for Egolf, who was beaten foron a rebound. … Young gets Drake’s second 3 and the Bulldogs are up 9-6 … until Maniscalco counters with his own to tie at 9. … Now Warren gets Bradley’s first lead with a corner 3. … A bad pass from Warren at the point flies over Maniscalco’s head – and arms and hands and fingers — in the corner and sails OB.

Timeout at 14:13 — Bradley 12, Drake 9

Seven of Drake’s 10 shots attempted so far have been 3-pointers. Dogs have made two of those. …

Egolf returns, and Jake Eastman also enters the game, replacing Warren. … A couple of quick turnovers by the Braves: one by Eastman first time he handles and the next by Maniscalco overthrowing Egolf in the post. … Eastman now drives baseline and up and over the defense for a layup; Bradley up 14-11. …

Bradley playing with much more enthusiasm tonight than at Iowa State. … Brown settles for an attempted 3 and misses. …

Timeout at 11:56 — Bradley 14, Drake 11

Had a little trouble getting started tonight. Wireless was out at courtside and required three reboots, a disable and re-enable and a magic wave. The refs are good: Steve Welmer, Mike Thibodeaux, Don Daily.

Bradley with a good defensive stand and RB out of the timeout. Braves are a little overanxious, though. Three times already, BU defenders have gone sky high with Drake fakes from the perimeter. Need to stay down. … Eddren McCain and Warren in for BU now. … Interesting wrinkle in Bradley’s offense this time down: weakside wing flashing to the paint to take a pass from the strongside wing. Twice, though, Bradley doesn’t get a shot from inside 10 feet. … Another turnover by Eastman leads to a Drake fastbreak, which is broken up by McCain running under and in front of the lead man. … Now a third turnover by Eastman on a charging foul; his second personal. That loses a 3-on-2 fastbreak below the free-throw line. Tough play, as Eastman takes a dish from McCain and jumpstops at contact. Defender did some flop, but Eastman had his shoulder down on landing, too, and that shoulder down will get you every time. … Brown makes a pair of FTs for BU. …

Timeout at 7:56 — Bradley 16, Drake 13

Milos Knezevic checks in for BU. … Braves outhustled for another rebound after a missed Drake 3. This one results in a converted second chance for the Bulldogs. … Drake retakes the lead on a strong post by Templeton over Knezevic and then Egolf coming to help. … That brings Brown back for Knezevic. … But Egolf converts an old-fashioned three-point play, and now Brown gets a steal at the point and is fouled driving the court on a breakaway. … Brown makes a nice spin into the lane, rises and dumps to Roberts for a layup. The refs don’t buy the Drake flop. … Roberts fails to finish strong on a baseline drive, but BU is right back, pounding inside to Egolf, who gets fouled on the floor. But he misses the front of the one-and-one. Bradley is up 21-17. … The Bulldogs like to jack the long ones. Wedel makes this one. … Now, that’s more like it: strong defensive board by Brown, outlete to Maniscalco, half-court bullet to a breaking Warren, who finishes the layup. …

Wouldn’t say the Braves are playing particularly well, but the amount of effort compared to the debacle in Ames is in another universe. Of course, any effort would be exponentially more than what BU put out in that one. …

Timeout at 2:09 — Bradley 23, Drake 23

Got interrupted by technical difficulties. Got knocked off the net at the halftime buzzer and haven’t been able to get back up. Reboots, disables. More reboots, more disables. Reconfigurations. Renunciation of all things wireless. Anyway, that’s why you’re getting a big gap.

Bradley had a six-point run going late in the half. Included was a monster one-hand dunk rebound by Brown. But Drake got a second chance and converted on its final trip down the floor. Halftime — Bradley 29, Drake 28

SECOND HALF
Brown rebounding well, starts with his ninth board of the game. … But Bradley not converting on offense, and Drake capitalizing on mistakes. Another second-chance bucket and then a fastbreak in which the Bulldogs jumped a bad pass by Eastman, kicked and beat BU down the floor for a layup. …

Bradley up 16-2 in the paint the first half, but getting beaten on points off turnovers and second-chances. … Braves make a good defensive stand, with Brown swatting away a shot late in the clock; then some fight underneath with some second-chance putbacks, although not converted. Eastman, however, gets fouled on one and splits the FTs. … Tied at 32. … Now a break for Drake as a loose ball winds up leading to an open 3 by Craig Stanley. … A trade of baskets, followed by Wedel driving a wide open lane for a layup. Jim Les wants timeout at 12:13. …

Timeout at 12:13 — Drake 39, Bradley 34

Braves had better start to execute. They started the half 2-for-12. Actually, Brown made a shot to start the half, then the Braves missed 11 in a row before Brown scored again. … Warren puts up a 3 from top of key and almost gets caught watching it miss. He follows just in time to get his own rebound, after which Bradley proceeds to nearly throw away the ball. Drake deflects it OB and we have the official time at 11:43, with the same score. …

Out of the timeout, Bradley runs an inbounds play that gets Warren the ball under the hoop and he’s fouled. Makes both FTs. … Now some good defense and Brown makes a steal late in the shot clock, beats his man on the runout, scores and gets fouled and the three-point play ties the score at 39. … Brown is playing his best game since the win over Illinois. … Oops. Les just stomped hard and loud as Brown backs off his man and allows him to launch a 3 — it misses. …

Now Warren hits a 3. On the other end, Aaron Hawley gets loose and drives the lane. Egolf steps into the imaginary box to try to take the charge and gets called for the block. Les not happy with the call, but that’s the rule. No charges into secondary defenders in the imaginary box, which Egolf was clearly inside of. That’s a blocking foul now. By rule. Hawley makes the FTs to make it a one-point game, but Warren posts for a turnaround fallaway and it’s 44-41 BU. … Until Hawley throws in a long, unguarded 3 to tie. … But Warren responds, and this is getting fun. Bradley’s energy is up and its offense is coming back. Of course, that means the defense is getting thin again. Can’t seem to put it all together at the same time. …

Timeout at 7:54 — Bradley 47, Drake 46
Â
Nice D by BU leads to a steal and a transition 3 for Warren. … But now three — THREE! — offensive rebounds by Drake finally gets the Bulldogs a basket. Just inexcusable on Bradley’s part. … Still showing some fight, though: Maniscalco follows his own miss, drives it to the basket, scores and gets fouled. He converts the three-point play for a 53-48 BU lead. … A post steal by Egolf. Well played. … Tough basket by Warren, who now has 20 points: a dribble-in and pullup to bank it through traffic. … More good D by Bradley, and the Braves are playing with some rediscovered confidence. … Les calls time at 4:27, with a seven-point lead. …

Out of the timeout, a backdoor lob from Maniscalco to Roberts for a layup. …

Timeout at 3:57 — Bradley 57, Drake 48

Bradley has seized control of the game. Now, we’ll see if the Braves can remember how to keep it. …

Warren has scored 15 of Bradley’s 23 points in the surge from a 39-34 deficit to a 57-48 lead. … Warren gets to the paint, makes two nice moves and powers in another bucket. … Bradley runs some nice offense and Egolf gets the ball inside, but too deep, behind the basket, and still tries to score. Should have kicked it out. Ball stripped and Drake winds up fouled and making one of two. … On the miss, Brown rebounds, and he has a double-double: 15 points and 10 boards now. …

Bradley runs some clock, misses, but Egolf and Brown keep the ball alive until Egolf grabs it and gets fouled. Can’t make the front end, though. … And now Young hits a 3 for Drake to cut the Bradley lead to 59-52 with 1:39 to play. This is not over. … Free-throw shooting has been better tonight for BU, but you can’t miss front ends (BU has missed at least two of those), and you have to make the FTs down the stretch. …

Braves spread the floor … and when it gets to money time, Maniscalco dribbles the ball off his leg. Turnover. … Fortunately for BU, Drake turns it over right back. … And now the Bulldogs have to foul. Brown to the line at :57.8, for a bonus: makes the business end, and the second. Lead is nine, and now six as Stanley rainbows a 3. Forty-nine seconds left. … Bradley just needs to get the ball in Maniscalco’s hands, though. The Braves do, and he gets fouled and makes two. … They can play that game the rest of the night, as long as they don’t give Drake a bunch of 3s. … Young has to settle for a pair. … Six-point spread. … And Maniscalco to the line again. Amazing how Drake can’t keep him from getting the ball. Two more FTs. …

As noted, the effort was much, much better tonight. Also, as we hit the final 10-12 minutes, the Braves’ overall play also improved. Funny how effort pays off — and how lack of effort doesn’t.

Final score — Bradley 67, Drake 59

Jim Les is feeling much better about his team after five arduous practices the past 2 1/2 days.

Following their horrific 87-68 defeat at Iowa State on Sunday, the Braves returned to a spartan environment in which they had to wear their own gear and face difficult, knock-down practices in an effort to instill some much-needed toughness.

“I’ve been pleased overall with the response,” Les said. “There have been steps in the right direction. The key is not to pout and worry about the past. It’s to make changes in our approach that won’t allow us to have this feeling again. The guys have gotten after each other in an understanding that this is how it has to be to reach some of our goals.”

The physical workouts were possible because the team has a nine-day layoff between Hawkeye state games at Iowa State and Drake. After Wednesday morning’s practice, the team was released for Christmas. All but Will Egolf, Chris Roberts and Sam Singh are headed to their respective homes. They’ll be back Saturday afternoon for the first workout in preparation for Drake.

“(Before the season) I wasn’t sure about this layoff,” Les said. “We were still trying to add a game as late as late September. As it turns out, what we thought would be a negative has turned into a positive. We’ve gotten extra work in and now the kids have a mental break and can come back re-energized to start the conference season.”

When asked if the takeaways were over, Les said no.

“That’s an indefinite thing,” he said. “A few practices doesn’t change that just quite yet. I haven’t decided yet if we’ll go back to two-a-days when they get back.”

If they do, it would probably be just for Sunday since the team will work out late Monday morning before boarding the bus for Des Moines.

No ruling has yet been made on Bradley recruit John Wilkins’ case against the National Junior College Athletic Association,  heard by Judge Mary Ann Brown in district court in Burlington, Iowa on Friday.

Wilkins, ruled ineligible to play junior college basketball by the NJCAA,  is seeking an injunction to play this season for Southeastern Community College. The 6-foot-9 native of Belgium has given an oral commitment to attend Bradley beginning in the fall of 2010.

“It’s in the judge’s hands,” said SCC basketball coach Terry Carroll. “She gave no indication when she would make a ruling on it.”

SCC, which is 14-1 this season, is on break until resuming play on Jan. 2.

Wilkins has gone to his father’s home in Gary, Ind., until the team resumes practice next week.

“John’s doing fine,” Carroll said. “The best thing he can do is keep his grades up and graduate (in May) so he can have his Division I eligibility.”