Without Dodie Dunson’s 16 points off the bench, Bradley probably wouldn’t have won its basketball home opener Sunday night at Carver Arena.
But the Braves’ 74-69 escape of Idaho State will be Dunson’s last hurrah of the season.
The senior guard from Bloomington broke two bones in his left forearm in a second-half fall on a baseline drive when an Idaho State player landed on top of him. Dunson will undergo surgery Tuesday and will seek a medical redshirt for the season.
“This is so disheartening for Dodie,” BU coach Jim Les said. “He’s apologizing to his teammates, but that’s just who he is. No one puts more into this game and this team than he does.
“We’re certainly going to miss him on the floor. He was awesome tonight. He brings a tremendous energy to our team. He’ll have to do that from the sidelines. The one fortunate thing is he did it in the second game, where he can get his year back.”
The news about Dunson dampened the Braves’ 17th consecutive home-opening victory, which was much closer than most of the 9,019 in attendance expected.
Idaho State stayed within a few points the entire game and took the lead, 63-62, on Broderick Gilchrest’s driving bank shot with 2:55 left.
It wasn’t until Sam Maniscalco bagged a 3-pointer on the right wing with 1:10 left, to stake the Braves to a 70-65 lead, that BU heaved a sigh of relief.
Maniscalco was just 2-for-10 from the field until the shot. He sank four free throws in the final 26 seconds.
“If I miss a few shots here and there, I have the mind-set that my next one’s going in,” Maniscalco said. “You have to give credit to Will (Egolf). He set a good screen for me. I had an open look and I just rose up and shot it. I wasn’t thinking about the last four or five misses when I shot it. I was just thinking about making that one.”
The Bengals (0-2) punished the smaller Braves inside. Idaho State had a 36-26 advantage on the boards (17 of them offensive rebounds) and scored 42 in the paint.
Bradley’s top rebounder, Taylor Brown, was serving the second and final game of his two-game suspension for violation of team rules.
“We needed to get our bigs more touches inside,” Idaho State coach Joe O’Brien said. “We were a better baskeball team inside than Bradley and we didn’t cash in on it and take advantage. I don’t know if it was a disadvantage for them (missing Brown), because their four guards were hard to guard and they moved the ball so well.”
Bradley fell behind 8-0 before getting back into the game with 3-point shooting vs. the Idaho State zone defense. During the six-minute stretch beginning at 14:05, the Braves made six 3s before the visitors switched to a man-to-man defense the rest of the game.
“We let Bradley get on a roll and knock some 3s down,” O’Brien said. “Being bullheaded, I didn’t get out of the zone quick enough.”
Andrew Warren matched Dunson’s 16 points, Maniscalco scored 13 and Chris Roberts and freshman Dyricus Simms-Edwards had 12.
Simms-Edwards made some huge plays for the Braves in his 23 minutes. He sank four of his five shots, made a big steal down the stretch and, finally, preserved the victory in the final seconds by saving a loose ball as he fell into the cheerleaders out of bounds.
“He’s an explosive athlete and he’s really good about managing his body,” Les said.
Said Simms-Edwards: “I kind of put myself into another zone (in games). This is what you work for in the offseason. So in the game, you have to clamp down and execute on everything you work on in the summer.”
Les said the role of the muscular 18-year-old from Washington would increase greatly with Dunson on the sidelines.
Overall, the BU coach said he was happy with the victory despite his team’s obvious blemishes Sunday.
“I wanted a close game like this where we could scratch and claw and find out who we are, especially late,” he said. “Who we are is when we stick to our discipline defensively, we’re awfully good and disruptive. Offensively, when we’re committed to moving the ball, we get great looks and get great shots.”
They’ll just have to do it all without one of their top players.
Braves briefs: Maniscalco’s late 3 was the 132nd of his career, which moves him into ninth place on the BU list, one ahead of Paul Wilson. ... Warren has 603 career points and passed Danny Granger on the BU all-time scoring list and into a tie for 90th place.
Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com.
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Box score: BU 74, Idaho State 69
