Bradley coach Jim Les was quick to credit his bench for Saturday’s 83-63 rout of Evansville.
And certainly, the Bradley reserves made valuable contributions, especially in the first half when frontcourtmen Will Egolf, Taylor Brown and Sam Singh each picked up two quick fouls and a double-digit lead was maintained.
In his first first-half action in more than a month, seldom-used center Anthony Thompson blocked three shots and provided a monster dunk on a nifty pick and roll.
“This was a bench win,” said Les, who hasn’t been able to say that much this season. “Sticks (Thompson) stepped up, made big plays and gave us a presence in the paint. That was after he had a hard workout this morning. It’s a hard thing to do when you don’t get a lot of minutes.”
But on a day when the team shot a torrid 63 percent from the field (30-for-48) — believed to be Bradley’s best one-game shooting performance in 18 years — and earned its first 20-point road win in the MVC since the Sweet 16 year, there was plenty of commendation to go around.
Start with the BU coaching staff, which readied the Braves well for this game, saving the team’s legs by focusing on mental aspects and making sure the winless, but capable, Purple Aces (6-17, 0-13) were not overlooked in the least.
“Everybody in the league knows what each other does by now,” said guard Andrew Warren. “So the important thing is to get our rest and be prepared mentally.”
The preparation extended to exploiting the Purple Aces’ overplaying defense with 10 driving layups within the halfcourt offense, three by Sam Maniscalco.
“Marty’s a great teacher and they’re physical and out pressuring on defense,” Les said. “We needed to look for the driving lanes with some ball movement as the defense shifted.”
That also helped provide open looks for Warren and Brown, who combined for 43 points on 15 of 21 shooting.
“I got some easy buckets at first and got my confidence level up,” Brown said. “After that, you’re not afraid to miss a shot. And when the shots are falling, you get after it a little more on defense.”
For Warren, the Braves’ top scorer, it was a breakout game after averaging just 10.4 points and shooting a mere 29.5 percent the previous seven outings. Warren’s 22 points Saturday were his most since he had 26 vs. Indiana State a month ago.
“I needed to let the game come to me and I did that today,” Warren said. “I missed my first couple of shots, but I got to the free-throw line early, getting fouls going to the basket, and that’s what I did early in the season.”
Bradley (12-11, 7-6) bolted to a 7-0 lead in the first 2:05. Nine first-half turnovers by the Braves, leading to seven UE points, were mainly what kept the halftime lead at just 37-26.
The Braves then began the second half with an all-out assault, scoring on 13 of their first 16 possessions to push the margin to 65-37, capped by Singh’s layup at 11:10. The small crowd of 4,821 began to gather its belongings.
“We’ve been improving, so, yeah, this was surprising,” said UE coach Marty Simmons. “I don’t want to take anything away from Bradley. They played great and seemed a step ahead of us the whole way.
“But it was surprising from our standpoint because we thought our attention to detail was improving. We didn’t show that today.”
While the Aces cut the deficit to 18 down the stretch, the BU command was such that walk-on Charonn Woods received his first game action in the final minutes. Another late highlight for the visitors was a 3-pointer by walk-on Ryan Phillips.
“Bradley’s a good team and they were real aggressive today,” said UE forward James Haarsma. “We weren’t ready to play and we let them punch us in the mouth. They wanted it more than us.”
Said Les: “We had talks about being the aggressor from the get-go and getting them back on their heels. Our attention to detail carried through to the game.”
Braves briefs: Bradley’s regular-season finale at Creighton on Feb. 27 has been set for 2:05 p.m. and won’t be televised in the Peoria area. Game time announcements for Valley contests that final day have been delayed in recent years to establish the best television matchup. Wichita State at Southern Illinois will be aired that day on Fox Sports Midwest and Comcast Chicago.
Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or at dreynolds@pjstar.com.
Box score: Bradley 83, Evansville 63
