Another home black mark

Blackout? For nearly seven crucial minutes down the stretch Tuesday at Carver Arena against Illinois State, that’s what the Bradley Braves seemed to be experiencing.

The Braves’ 11-point lead at 9:15 dissolved to nothing in a flurry of nine consecutive missed shots. Then, ISU used its inside strength to post a 62-61 victory before a sellout crowd of 11,281.

The Redbirds (17-8, 8-6) ended a seven-game losing streak at Carver and recorded their first regular-season sweep on the Interstate 74 rivalry since 2001-02.

“We had some good looks and the right guys shooting it,” said BU coach Jim Les of the untimely drought. “Our misses gave them a little confidence and got them going. We unfortunately couldn’t weather that storm of going cold.”

The game-winner for the visitors came on a putback by freshman forward Jackie Carmichael off his own miss with 49 seconds left. That play followed a clutch 24-foot 3-pointer by Sam Maniscalco that put BU up 61-60 at 1:07.

“It’s the happiest I’ve seen them all year,” said ISU coach Tim Jankovich of his team’s locker room celebration. “That was a lot of fun. It didn’t feel like it was going to happen at halftime.”

Bradley (12-12, 7-7), energized by its new black uniforms and the fans’ like-color garb donned on the program’s first-ever Blackout, surged to a 9-0 lead in the first 3:13.

“The defense sparked that,” said BU forward Taylor Brown. “It was a full house and all the students showed up and we had an edge there. We started creating what we needed to create and we got the momentum going.”

The Braves would build the margin to 32-18 on a Maniscalco trey at 2:48 before carrying a 35-25 bulge into the halftime locker room.

“To me, one of the big keys of the game was that we weren’t down 15 at half,” Jankovich said. “We did not come out at all like I had hoped. Bradley was totally sharp, really in every way in the first half. They had us on our heels and looked quicker than us. We dug a big hole.”

But they quickly filled in the hole to begin the second half, scoring 10 of the first 12 points to trail only 37-35 at 17:33.

Maniscalco again got Bradley propped back up when he drove the lane and emerged with a three-point play. That launched BU on a 12-2 burst, capped by a Brown inside basket on a give and go.

At 10:34, Dyricus Simms-Edwards’ driving shot in the lane provided another dozen-point lead, 51-39.

But then ISU reserve guard Austin Hill introduced himself to the rivalry with a dizzying array on spin drives, double pumps and scoops.

He scored nine of the Redbirds’ next 13 points, finishing with a team-high 14 points, to spark a 15-3 spurt that would tie the game at 54-54 with 4:52 remaining.

“I’m pretty used to playing in front of big crowds so it just excited me more,” said Hill, a Southeastern Illinois CC transfer. “I just let the game come to me. Their defense was real spread out so it was easy to get into the seams.”

The Braves tried a little bit of everything defensively to try containing the Redbirds’ size advantage. They often doubled center Dinma Odiakosa and changed up with man and two varieties of zone.

“We mixed it up, tried to keep Odiakosa off balance,” Les said. “He’s a ton inside and gave them some extra life with second-chance points.”

Down the stretch, though, the 6-foot-8 senior only needed one chance on two significant possessions.

With the Braves leading 56-54 at 3:06, Sam Singh fouled Odiakosa, who dropped in both free throws to tie at 56.

Then, after Brown missed the front end of a one-and-bonus, Odiakosa gave ISU its first lead of the game with a post-up bank shot.

Maniscalco followed by scoring twice more for BU, on a drive in the lane to tie at 58 and his long 3-pointer for the 61-60 lead. They were the only two made shots for the Braves in their final 14 attempts.

Odiakosa, a fifth-year senior, expressed his joy at finally winning here.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “It’s something we have wanted for so long and to see it happen on my watch is great for us.”

The feeling was not so great on the other side.

“There was a stretch of 4-5 minutes we let up and didn’t have the same energy we had early,” said BU guard Andrew Warren. “We’re not going to get down, though, with Northern Iowa coming in Saturday.”

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or at dreynolds@pjstar.com