The Missouri State basketball Bears amassed a 46-21 rebounding bulge and poured home 26 of 30 free throws to offset a three-point barrage by the Bradley Braves as the Bears held off the Braves down the stretch on the way to an 86-78 Missouri Valley Conference victory Tuesday night in Peoria, Ill.
MSU moved to 2-1 in the league and 11-3 for the season as the Bears’ snapped Bradley’s 16-game home court winning streak. Bradley slipped to 1-2 and 10-5.
The balanced Bears had five players score in double figures, led by 16 each from Blake Ahearn, Spencer Laurie and Drew Richards. The points by Laurie and Richards marked career highs for both, while Nathan Bilyeu scored 13 points and Deven Mitchell added 10. Tyler Chaney with nine, Bilyeu with eight and Richards with seven spearheaded the Bears’ huge rebound margin.
With Bradley cranking in five threes in the first half and seven more after intermission, the Bears used .867 foul line accuracy to maintain a slim lead down the stretch. It was the Bears’ top foul line outing of the season, both from the standpoint of percentage and free throws made.
After trailing throughout virtually the entire first half, the Bears scored the first seven points of the second half to turn a 40-37 deficit into a 44-40 lead. Eight ties and three lead changes later, the Bears broke from a 54-54 tie at the 14-minute mark with a 6-0 run to go in front for the next 10 minutes. A 5-0 Bradley run pulled the Braves even at 76-76 with 4:45 to play. Two free throws by Ahearn broke the tie and a jump hook by Bilyeu made it 80-76. Will Franklin scored for Bradley at the 2:12 mark but two free throws each by Bilyeu and Laurie wrapped around a breakaway dunk by Bilyeu made the final score the Bears’ biggest margin of the night.
Bradley, the nation’s leading three-point shooting team, dumped in a dozen treys but it took the Braves a single game school record 35 attempts to make that many. Danny Adams hit six treys to lead the Braves with 18 points while Franklin scored 16 and Zach Andrews had 15.
Having finished a stretch of four straight road games, the Bears have nine of their remaining 16 regular season contests at home, beginning with a 4:05 visit to Hammons Student Center Sunday (Jan. 7) by Wichita State for another Valley test.
