Warren's dunk seals close victory over Wofford

54	56

Bradley almost learned a tough lesson on playing a full 40-minute game Sunday. But the Braves (2-1) held on to beat a resilient Wofford (2-2) team 56-54.

Junior guard Andrew Warren made the crucial play of the game as Wofford had the ball for a potential winning shot. Instead, Warren jumped a passing lane and ran down the court for a dunk with 4.3 seconds left.

Just seven minutes earlier, Bradley had one of its largest leads of the game at 48-36. Sophomore guard Eddren McCain tossed in a banked shot from just outside the free-throw line and that looked like all of the breaks were falling the Braves' way.

A dry spell lasted nearly four minutes and the Terriers closed the gap to 48-46. But credit the Braves for never letting the visitors ever get all the way back from the deficit. Important baskets by sophomore forward Taylor Brown, senior guard Chris Roberts and junior guard Sam Maniscalco on three of the next four possessions helped keep Bradley ahead for good.

The game had a frenetic pace that was certainly not indicative of the final score. Wofford only shot 33.3 percent for the game and Bradley wasn't much better at 41.7 percent. The Braves also only made 2-of-16 from 3-point range (12.5 percent). Both teams played well defensively, but there were also plenty of open looks that were missed, too.

Rebounding clearly was a focus after the poor performance on the glass against Idaho State. The Braves were +7 overall (40-33) and only allowed six offensive rebounds to the Terriers.

Maybe the return of Brown had a big effect or possibly it was just the fact that Wofford played a very small lineup. Either way, we'll have to see how Bradley rebounds against bigger teams coming up on the schedule.

Clearly this team is a lot better with Brown on the floor than when he was suspended. Expectations were high for him coming into the season and he didn't disappoint, scoring a game-high 16 points and also grabbing six rebounds. If he continues to develop, this team will forget about departed senior Theron Wilson pretty quickly.

Head coach Jim Les generally kept a bigger lineup (for Bradley, at least) on the floor, which was refreshing. Sophomore center Will Egolf began showing some of the brilliance fans saw before his season-ending injury last season. He showed the ability to shoot his smooth mid-range jumper as well as work in the post. Egolf had eight points and four rebounds, but more importantly had three blocks and played great defense on Wofford's Noah Dahlman.

But even in a broader view of the playing time, Les seemed to distribute the minutes pretty effectively. Brown, Roberts and Warren all logged 30+ minutes and both Egolf and Maniscalco had over 25. Sophomore center Anthony Thompson had a few nice baskets and was rewarded with 11 minutes of playing time.

Les also made the proper observation about some of the players who were having "off" games. McCain didn't contribute much and only played 16 minutes. Pleasant surprise freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards never really seemed into the flow of this game and only played for ten minutes. These sorts of things should be expected from a freshman and it's good that Les didn't overexpose Simms-Edwards.

Bradley should be commended for finishing off a pesky Wofford team, but the team needs to shoot better if its going to beat better teams. The Presbyterian game tomorrow shouldn't be much of a challenge, but hopefully it will get the Braves some confidence in their shooting going into Las Vegas over the weekend.