The return of fans in Carver Arena for Bradley men’s basketball after 623 days was a joyous occasion. The final result was anything but for the Braves as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponent Howard used a 19-3 run to start Saturday’s game and never relinquished it en route to a 76-64 victory.
The Bison (3-0) forced eight Braves turnovers in the first eight minutes and held the hosts to 2-15 shooting during that span. Trailing by 11 after the intermission, Bradley (0-2) could not defend a blazing-hot shooting Howard team, who scored on six straight possessions in a roughly four-minute span in the second half and opened their lead up to 65-43 at one point.
For the Braves, it was deja vú of their season-opener on Tuesday against South Dakota State, when the Jackrabbits used big runs early in the game and an eye-opening disparity in 3-point field goals to win.
“Last game, to be quite honest, it was another bad first half so we’ve had two bad first halves so we’ve just got to find a way to get better,” head coach Brian Wardle said. “How you start each half is big, especially with a lot of newcomers and a young team out there today.”
“We can’t call it nerves”
Bradley was without two of their most experienced players in Ja’Shon Henry (non-COVID illness) and Ville Tahvanainen (foot). Without two of their leaders, the Braves struggled mightily on offense out of the gate, despite not allowing a Howard field goal in the first four and a half minutes.
The Bison eventually found their offensive footing. Bradley, however, did not as junior Malevy Leons scored the only two Braves’ field goals in the first 10 minutes, the first coming on a three from the wing with 13:22 left in the first half. Leons led the Braves in scoring with 16 but as a team, Bradley shot 5-27 in three-pointers and 13-26 from the free throw line.
“It’s early in the season and we can’t call it nerves anymore,” sophomore Rienk Mast said of Bradley’s shooting woes. “We came out like ‘Let’s see what’s happening.’ We got to come out thinking ‘Let’s get the first few points; let’s get them on the back of their feet.’ I think we were down 11 right away, that’s just not how we want to start a game.”
Bradley shot just 24% from the field and 2-13 from three-point range in the first half but free throws were the Braves’ friend as they tried to cut into Howard’s lead before halftime. After taking advantage of 13 first-half fouls from the Bison and turning them into 10 points from the charity stripe, the Braves trailed 35-24 at halftime.
3-pointers erase hopes of comeback
Wardle and the Braves came out stronger to start the second stanza offensively but Howard proved that their strong first half was not a mirage. After three-pointers on three straight possessions, two from Tai Bibbs and another from Elijah Hawkins, the Bison led 46-30 four minutes into the second half.
After a 5-0 run in response from the Braves, Kyle Foster drained a corner deep ball as the shot clock expired to push the Howard lead to 49-34 with 14:29 in the second half. The graduate guard led Howard with 16 points, making five out of his six threes-pointers
After South Dakota State overpowered the Braves offensively earlier in the week, the Braves found themselves taking one step forward and two steps back in the second half. Howard’s full-court press and barrage of three-pointers added to the frustration.
“It’s pretty frustrating cause when you’re guarding, they had a couple [three-pointers] where they’d shoot it behind the screen,” Mast said. “That’s just so frustrating cause you’re trying to get back in the game but that’s on us.”
Despite a 10-2 run and nine points from junior Terry Roberts in the final 10 minutes of the game, Howard’s lead had already become too lofty for the Braves to surmount. Mast finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Jayson Kent added 11 points and 7 rebounds.
What the outcome means
The win for the Bison was their first over a Division-I opponent this year. Howard only played five games last season before canceling the rest of their games, due to COVID-19 concerns.
“[We’ve had] a lot of blood, sweat and sleepless nights on this thing and we’re just in year three and it feels, honestly, like year two…we only played five games last year,” head coach Kenneth Blakeney said, fighting back tears. “There’s been a lot for us to get to this point.”
On the other side, Bradley finds itself 0-2 to start the season for the first time since 2014-15. Wardle noted the growing pains that the team has had while trying to integrate eight newcomers.
“We’ve got an all new backcourt and it’s gonna take some time and I knew this game was going to be tough for us with the way they play,” Wardle said.” And I thought if we could’ve handled better in the first five minutes of the game, it could change the whole outcome of the game.”
Bradley exceeded Howard in second-chance points, in the paint and rebounds but being on the wrong end of scoring runs and defending the deep ball have been a deciding factor in the Braves’ two losses thus far. Wardle and Mast emphasized that responding to adversity and starting hot are paramount looking forward.
“This is not a team we should lose to but I like how our guys competed at the end,” Mast said. “We get desperate and then we start competing. I think we’ve got to figure out how we can compete and play from the start.”
“We’ve got to just get tougher and get better in a lot of areas,” Wardle added. “We’re a work in progress.”
The Braves will seek their first win of the regular season when they take on Division-II opponent Missouri S&T on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Carver Arena.
