ST. LOUIS — The Bradley Braves are marching on to the semi-finals of Arch Madness after defeating SIU in a hard fought game by a score of 64-59.
The Braves trailed a majority of the game but stayed within striking distance to take the lead late in the game. Overall, SIU led for nearly 29 minutes of the game, and Bradley led for only eight of the 40 minutes.
Bradley Coach Brian Wardle credits the defense with keeping the Braves in the game.
“We just couldn’t really get going offensively, but defense and rebounds keeps you in the game,” said Wardle. “That’s what March is all about; survive and advance.”
Throughout the game, different players stepped up when the Braves needed it most to keep the game close. In the first half, junior forward Elijah Childs provided the spark with a scoring run to keep Bradley in the game after an offensive drought.
Childs also stated that being down and going through adversity is nothing new for the Braves.
“We’ve been down before. We don’t get discouraged. We don’t get down on each other. We try to stay positive,” said Childs.
In the second half, Darrell Brown and Ville Tahvanainen had scoring spurts of their own that kept Bradley in the game. Tahvanainen had two big three-pointers which took the lead for Bradley after trailing for a majority of the game.
Bradley now goes on to face Drake in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Earlier on Friday, Drake became the first Missouri Valley Conference eighth seed to upset the first seed when they beat Northern Iowa 77-56.
Coach Wardle was quick to praise the Drake Bulldogs in the post-game press conference.
“They’re playing well. They’re a good team. Best eight seed I’ve ever seen,” said Wardle. “We’ve got our hands full, we know that. As long as we defend and rebound, we’ll be alright.”
Bradley’s season record improved to 21-11 with the win over SIU, and the Salukis record dropped to 16-16 with the loss.
