The Bradley Braves (21-9, 13-6) played hard on their senior night against the Salukis (19-11,11-8) at Carver Arena in Peoria, Illinois on Thursday night, with a score of 86-67.
Even with starter Clarence Rupert back in his regular position, Southern couldn’t pull a win out with Xavier Johnson playing 28 minutes, sitting out a good amount of the first half.
“Level of execution wasn’t there and that’s my fault,” Head Coach Bryan Mullins said. “Too many turnovers and an offensive rebound they gave up 40 points on those two things and those are two things that you can control where you don’t have to make or miss shots… so can’t expect to play that way and then have success and growth.”
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Southern pulled out 18 defensive rebounds all game with a total of 28. AJ Ferguson put up 16 points but the Braves brought the heat with Darius Hannah putting up 22 points and the team finished with a total of 39 rebounds.
The Salukis had one small lead at the beginning of the game with the Braves swiping it at 18 minutes, going on a ten-point run before Johnson broke it with a layup at 14:31. With another few layups by Troy D’Amico, Southern was able to cut the lead to two points.
They scored just a single point until the last few minutes of the first half going into halftime, 37-27.
“We didn’t get off to a good start. I didn’t think our urgency was there,” Mullins said. “ I thought we responded a little bit after the first four minutes and then second part of that first half they continued to win the boards. You know I thought the offensive rebound was a huge factor and then just unforced turnovers by us.”
Going into the second half the Salukis continued to trail with the Braves racking up points. Bradley’s biggest lead was 29 points.
“You’re not going to be able to be down ten at halftime and come back if you can’t hold the team to under 50% from the field,” Mullins said. “We got to do a better job defensively there.
Jarrett Hansley came in with his end-of-game energy with consistent layups and free throws but was unable to save this game with the last two. Leaving the Dawgs with a final score of 86-67.
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The Salukis return home on March 3rd to play the Northern Iowa Panthers at 1 p.m. in the Banterra Center.
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