'Dogfight': How Bradley beat Southern Illinois to force a logjam atop the Valley

PEORIA — The Salukis ran into some bigger dogs Wednesday in the Bradley Braves.

Bradley turned a tight, tense battle into a big win with a 17-4 run over the final 5:36 to knock off Missouri Valley Conference co-leader Southern Illinois, 62-52, before 4,817 at Carver Arena.

"It was a dogfight," Bradley point guard Duke Deen said. "We knew it was going to be a dogfight. Well we had some dogs on our team, too."

And now they are in another dogfight — the race for the top spot in the Valley.

Box score: Bradley 62, Southern Illinois 52 | Preview: SIU at BU | Standings: MVC

BU's win over Southern Illinois, combined with an 88-81 win in overtime by Drake over Northern Iowa and an 83-82 win by Murray State over league co-leader Belmont, left a four-team tie at the top of the standings.

Bradley, Southern Illinois, Belmont and Drake are all 9-4. There's four more teams just behind them at 8-5.

"We knew it was going to be a low possession war. You have to keep your head," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "We showed our toughness and our physicality. The crowd stood up and got them riled up at the end. It was a fun basketball game.

"We have more games ahead, we have Northern Iowa on Saturday and we can't really rest. Lot of games left. Lot of things will happen down the stretch. We just have to keep finding ways to win basketball games, whether it's by one point, 10 points, doesn't matter."

It looked like it could be either one Wednesday, as the game mostly stayed within a four-point margin. Bradley led twice by five points and twice by six in the first half, but ended up with a one-point margin at halftime.

In the second half, neither team had more than a four-point lead until Bradley wing Zek Montgomery's driving layup for a 54-48 lead with 2:34 left.

Montgomery was a hero down the deep stretch. After that layup, he grabbed a rebound of Lance Jones' missed 3 at 1:40 and turned it into free throws for Deen and a 58-50 lead.

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Then, with 1:26 left, Montgomery stepped in front of SIU star forward Marcus Domask and stole the ball for a possession off which Connor Hickman made free throws for 60-50.

"I wanted to make plays no one else can make," Montgomery said. "Their energy went down after that, you could feel it. I learned from the Belmont game, when I turned it over at the end. Don't rush, just be chill and make a play, keep calm and make the right play. This was a big step for me.

"This win is very big. I'm very proud of this team right now. We're in the hunt for first place."

'We had to have it'

Bradley center Rienk Mast had seven points and four rebounds in the game's first six minutes as the Braves' big men were unmatched inside.

Leons had a dunk for a 12-11 lead. Darius Hannah delivered an alley-oop dunk after an SIU shot clock violation for 14-11 lead at the under-12 break.

Then Henry took a feed under the rim from Deen to beat the shot clock with a layin for 16-11 at 11:08.

Deen, meanwhile, was shut out in that first half. But it merely set the stage for a big moment in the final 20 minutes.

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"I was scoreless," said Deen, who played with four fouls — three of them called by referee Gary Maxwell, who has now called seven fouls in two games on Bradley's point guard. "I stayed positive. I've grown when I get fouls. At Indiana State, I got down on myself when I get fouls like that, and again with Belmont here. Playing with fouls is important, too.

"If I'm not positive then the team is not going to be positive. So tonight I made sure to keep talking. I knew I was going to score eventually. I just wanted the team to be alright."

With Bradley clinging to a one-point lead with 3:26 left and the shot clock bleeding down, Deen rose up and got a 3 underway just in time. And it went down for a 52-48 lead.

The Salukis never got closer after that.

" 'If I have space, I'm shooting,' " Deen said of his thoughts the moment before he launched his shot. "I just wanted to make the best play. We had to have it.

"I knew this game was going to come down to the wire. Somebody was going to have to make big shots tonight."

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How they stopped SIU's star

Marcus Domask has three games this season of 30 or more points. He's a legit candidate for Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year.

And on Wednesday the Braves held him to five points. The 6-foot-6 forward has failed to reach double figures in points just three times all season. Wednesday marked his season low.

Take a bow, BU's Leons and Ja'Shon Henry.

Leons, a budding Valley Defensive Player of the Year, and Henry, a physical, relentless veteran defender, shut down Domask, just took him out of the game.

"Mal and Ja-Hen holding Domask to 5 points … that's crazy," Deen said. "We came into this game wanting to just stop everybody else on their team.

"We figured he was going to get to his spots and that Domask would get his points, but Mal and Ja-Hen stepped up tonight. And (BU guard) Connor Hickman did a great job on (SIU guard) Lance Jones. Hick does things on the court, he has to play."

In December, Bradley's defenders held Belmont star Ben Sheppard to 11 points. They held Drake guard Roman Penn to seven. And Indiana State leading scorer Courvoisier McCauley managed only 12 against BU. Now Domask has joined the list.

"Domask is a hard player to stop," Wardle said. "I think we had some decent matchups for him with Malevy, and with Henry getting some reps on him. We lost him once on a drift pass for 3, and other than that we did a really good job on him.

"(SIU guard) Lance Jones, 13 points on 14 shots, I can live with that. He's a tough matchup. Everybody made some big plays."

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In the huddle

• Bradley head coach Brian Wardle, on point guard Duke Deen and wing Zek Montgomery closing the game: "Duke made big shots, Zek made big plays. Just an overall team effort. That's what it takes this time of year. Zek played great down the stretch for us. He's starting to show he can close games for us. He's really maturing and growing in all areas."

• Deen, on the slow-paced Salukis and his role in the clutch: "We just had to not let them slow the game on us like they wanted to. I just got to be a point guard. Those last six minutes were crucial to close it out."

• Wardle, on Bradley's offense against SIU: "We didn't execute offensively very well, we played busted a lot. Both teams' transition defense was locked in. We need to keep being locked into the game plan, mentally tough and take care of the ball."

Bravely Speaking

The Braves have won four straight and six of the last seven at home against Southern Illinois. … Bradley forward Ja'Shon Henry rolled his ankle midway through the second half and left the game for 4:30, then re-emerged from the locker room and resumed playing. BU head coach Brian Wardle says Henry is OK. … Bradley forward Malevy Leons had scored in double figures in seven straight games until being held to nine against SIU. He added seven rebounds. … Bradley put four players in double figures scoring, including Rienk Mast (12 points, 9 rebounds), Henry (13 points), Duke Deen (10 points, 4 fouls) and Zek Montgomery (10 points, 5 rebounds). … Southern Illinois got 13 points each from Lance Jones and Xavier Johnson. … BU won the boards, 35-27, and points in the paint, 34-28. … The Braves return to the road to play Northern Iowa on Saturday, a 5 p.m. start on ESPN2.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

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FINAL: Bradley 62, SIU 52

Almost there

8:46 p.m.: Zek Montgomery with driving layup and Mast with two free throws for 56-50 BU lead with 1:38 left.

Duke does it

8:41 p.m.: Duke Deen scrambled as the shot clock wound down and hit a 3 for a 52-48 lead with 3:23 left as the game went to its final media break.

Bradley 45, SIU 43

8:29 p.m.: SIU gets a 3 from Lance Jones, a charge call on Hickman to stop a possession, then a short jumper from Newton for a 41-40 Saluki's lead at 9:02.

Leons with a putback at 8:25 for 43-41.

Jones drive to the rim for 43-43.

Leons dunk off Hannah feed for 45-43 at 7:20 left.

Timeout, Salukis.

Duke hits from 3

8:22 p.m.: Deen came back in off the bench and hit a straightaway 3 for 36-34 at 13:05, his first points of the game.

Henry with a layup fighting through traffic for 38-34 with 12:10 left.

Tahvanainen with a spinning layup for 40-36 at 11:28, and then the crowd standing, asking for a stop.

They got it, as Newton's corner 3 bounded off the rim and Tahvanainen grabbed it. But Henry could not put away a layup to extend BU's lead, and they went to the media break with Bradley up by four at 10:28.

Deen back to the bench

8:10 p.m.: Bradley point guard Duke Deen hit with his third foul 31 seconds into the second half, and goes back to the bench.

Braves recovered a couple minutes later when Leons hit a 3 from the left corner for 31-28 with 17:40 left in the game.

Montgomery driving layup for 33-29 at 17:08.

They are in the media break now with 15:48 left.

By the numbers

7:50 p.m.: Bradley got 9 points and 7 rebounds from Rienk Mast in the first half. Ja'Shon Henry has 8 points.

Starting guards Duke Deen and Connor Hickman have no points in the first half. Depending on how you want to assign positions at a given moment in the first half, the BU guards have 2 points in the game.

But Bradley is rolling in the paint, 20-12, as SIU has not been able to match up against Mast or Henry or Darius Hannah.

SIU has 5 points each from Domask, Johnson and Newton.

Both teams are shooting 42.9% from the floor.

HALFTIME: Bradley 26, SIU 25

7:45 p.m.: A defensive battle in the first half, with both teams struggling to shoot from outside, combing for 5 of 15 from 3-point range.

Xavier Johnson hit a 3 from the top of the key to close within 20-18 at 4:47 left in the half.

Henry put down a layup with 4:16 left in the half for a 22-18 lead, which held up to the break at under 4 minutes.

Henry took a pass from Hannah under the rim and put it away for 24-18 at 3:20 left.

Pop Weathers missed in the paint, Mast snagged offensive rebound and put it back with a hook for 26-20 lead with 1:17 left in the half.

SIU forward Marcus Domask nailed a 3 with 53 seconds left to cut BU's edge to 26-23.

Bradley had a chance to tack on, but Xavier Johnson stole the ball and set up a final shot for SIU, coming off a timeout with 8.9 seconds left.

Jawaun Newton tried a 3 from the left corner and it was all air, but Lance Jones caught it under the basket and put it up and in at the buzzer to cut Bradley's lead to 26-25 at halftime.

Bradley 22, SIU 18

7:35 p.m.: Then Xavier Johnson hit a 3 from the top of the key to close within 20-18 at 4:47 left in the half.

Henry put down a layup with 4:16 left in the half for a 22-18 lead, which held up to the break at under 4 minutes.

Bradley, 18, SIU 15

7:28 p.m.: Ja'Shon Henry gets a feed under the rim from Deen to beat the shot clock with a layin for 16-11 at 11:08.

Christian Davis into the game, stretches for the rim and puts away a layup for 18-15 lead.

SIU offensive foul, Bradley can't capitalize as Mast misses hook.

Duke Deen is on the bench right now with two fouls, both called by referee Gary Maxwell. He has called three of the four fouls on Bradley in the game's first 13 minutes.

Braves take a lead

7:18 p.m.: Coming off the first media timeout, Leons with a dunk for 12-11 lead.

Darius Hannah alley-oop dunk after an SIU shot clock violation for 14-11 BU lead at the under-12 break,

Tug-of-war early

7:11 p.m.: SIU jumped out to a 6-2 lead, but Bradley scratched back to a 7-6 lead when Rienk Mast grabbed an offensive rebound and putback, then on the next trip down hit a 3.

Zek Montgomery hit a 3 from the left wing to close within 11-10 at 14:35.

Mast has 7 points and 4 rebounds in the game's first 5:43.

Familiar face

7:05 p.m.: Referee Gary Maxwell in the crew for this game. That's the guy who tried to walk into Bradley's huddle at Indiana State and then called a T on coach Brian Wardle.

Duke Deen fouled out of that game, and Maxwell called four of them. And just like that, 76 seconds after tipoff tonight, Duke Deen has his first foul.

Starting lineups

6:53 p.m.: Bradley launches with guards Connor Hickman and Duke Deen, forward Malevy Leons, wing Zek Montgomery and center Rienk Mast.

SIU counters with guards Lance Jones, Xavier Johnson and Jawaun Newton and forwards Marcus Domask and Clarence Rupert.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bradley basketball beats Southern Illinois, four-team tie atop Valley