 |  |
68 | 65 |
Bradley (5-4) made three turnovers in its final four possessions and Courtney Stanley threw in a half-court shot to shock the Braves at home 68-65.
A layup by junior guard Sam Maniscalco gave Bradley a 50-38 lead with 17 minutes to go in the game. But the Braves were stuck on 50 points for the next seven minutes and allowed Loyola (7-2) to close the gap to five points.
The second-half collapse was caused by a combination of poor offensive flow and atrocious free-throw shooting. For the game, Bradley made just 9-of-18 free throws while Loyola shot 18-0f-23 (78 percent).
The problems snowballed after some questionably close officiating. The Ramblers went to the line on five out of seven possessions. Certainly this loss can't be pinned on the referees but they contributed to the problem (for the first time this season).
But even as badly as the game was going, the Braves still led 65-60 with the ball and less than two minutes to play. Maniscalco turned the ball over once and then sophomore forward Taylor Brown traveled and threw the ball away on successive possessions.
Brown did have a chance to redeem himself in the closing seconds but missed a jumper near the free-throw line with the clock winding down. After a Loyola timeout with 2.5 seconds left, Stanley caught the inbound pass and tossed in an awkward looking heave near the sideline for a Rambler victory.
Whereas Western Carolina came in and really stole a win on Bradley's home court last week, this one has to sit squarely on the Braves' shoulders. They gave it away.
Consider the fact that Bradley made 10-of-19 attempts from 3-point range and this game should have been a double-digit victory. Though junior guard Andrew Warren played pretty well (17 points, 4-of-8 on 3-point attempts and five rebounds), the rest of the team leaders didn't do enough.
The brightest spot in the game had to be the performance of freshman forward Milos Knezevic. He played a significant role in helping Bradley get up to such a big lead, scoring all 11 of his points in four minute stretch. He looked like he couldn't miss out there from long range.
If there's anything to specifically hang on the coaching staff it was not getting Knezevic more playing time and shot opportunities in the second half.
Other frustrations
If this game weren't bad enough, Bradley also played without freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards, who was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left foot and will miss a minimum of three to six weeks.
Simms-Edwards had been developing into an important contributor on both ends of the floor. But if this problem is anything like what sidelined Warren, he could certainly miss the rest of the season.
Bradley should consider a medical redshirt option if his condition doesn't improve quickly. He has played in few enough games that he'd likely qualify for the classification.
In a corresponding move, freshman guard Jake Eastman had his redshirt removed and was active for this game. Eastman didn't play as he was also nursing an injury from practice.
Coaching spots
After Steve Merfeld surprisingly left the coaching staff on December 6, Bradley had yet to fill his role until today. Kyle Vogt was promoted to Interim Assistant Coach and former Brave Jeremy Crouch was named Interim Director of Basketball Operations (Vogt's former role).
These moves were to be expected as Bradley wasn't about to find any sort of experienced coach to join the program mid-season. The result of these promotions may be minimal as this is still Jim Les' team.
Some have speculated that Merfeld and Les may not have gotten along though the true details will likely never be revealed publicly. Now Les essentially has full control and Vogt won't likely change that.
Moving forward
Bradley heads back out to the road to face Iowa State on Sunday. For how they've played up and down to their competition, expect the Braves to have a much better effort. Maybe getting away from Carver Arena will force Bradley to not get so complacent when they get a lead.
