Braves take a Split with Drake that Dashes the Bulldogs MVC Title Hopes

 The Drake Bulldogs came into Carver Arena needing two wins to secure the MVC Regular Season Title. Bradley was looking to play the role of spoiler this weekend and it looked as through Friday would be a big upset for the Braves. The games first basket was a layup by Ville Tahvanainen to put Bradley up 2-0 before Tremell Murphy scored 7 straight points for Drake to put them out in front 7-4. The Braves would battle right back and a Rienk Mast triple would give Bradley a 4 point advantage with 15:33 left in the first half. Bradley would continue to extend its lead over the next 6 minutes and after Ja'Shon Henry went 2 for 2 at the free throw line Bradley found themselves up 23-14, which would be the largest lead of the day for the Braves. But Drake would show why they were one of the two best teams in the Valley this season as they quickly ripped off an 11-0 run capped off by a Joseph Yesufu 3-pointer that put Drake back out in front 25-23. After buckets by Sean East II and Ja'Shon Henry, Drake started to feed big man Darnell Brodie and it paid off. Brodie would score 6 straight points to cool off a Bradley run and give Drake a 33-30 lead with 3:03 left before halftime. Bradley would score only 1 more point the rest of the half on a Kevin McAdoo free throw, Drake meanwhile would get a 2 point jump shot from Garrett Sturtz and two 3-pointers from Joseph Yesufu to stretch their lead all the way to 41-31. Darnell Brodie had 14 points on 7 for 9 shooting in the first half and Yesufu added 9 points to pace the Bulldogs. Bradley got strong contributions from everyone who played in the first half but were lead by Ja'Shon Henry with 9 and Rienk Mast with 7. Drake was especially bad at the free throw line in the first half going 2-9 good for only 22%. The second half started just how Drake could've wanted; they get a triple from DJ Wilkins, Tremell Murphy hits both of his free throws, and they increase their lead to 15. Sean East would end the run with a jump shot and Rienk Mast would hit his second 3 of the game to send the Braves trailing 48-36 heading into the under 16 media timeout. Immediately out of the timeout DJ Wilkins would hit another triple to put Drake right back in front by 15. That would be a theme for the rest of this contest, every time Bradley would make a basket or go on a run Drake would match it and put them in a hole again. With 13:00 remaining Ville Tahvanainen buried a fast break 3-pointer that gave forced Drake to take a timeout and made it a 51-41 ball game. Garrett Sturtz, Joseph Yesufu, and Darnell Brodie would score the next 3 baskets for the Bulldogs to give them a commanding 19 point advantage with 8 minutes remaining in the game. The Braves would continue to show their heart and compete until the final buzzer getting Drake's lead all the way down to 7 points before two late free throws sealed the game and gave the visitors a 80-71 victory. 5 Bulldogs scored in double figures but they were led by the big man Darnell Brodie, who poured in 21 points and 7 rebounds on a very efficient 10-13 from the field. The Braves got double figures from 4 players but were paced by Ja'Shon Henry's 17 points and 6 rebounds. 

The game on Saturday looked to be even tougher for the Braves as before the game Ville Tahvanainen woke up with an illness, that wasn't COVID related, and Kevin McAdoo had a wrist injury that wouldn't allow them to play leaving Bradley with just 7 scholarship players on the roster.  Despite this it would be the Braves who would get off to another hot start quickly jumping out to an 8-3 lead after Rienk Mast scored a layup on the fast break. Freshman Jayson Kent nailed a 3-pointer and Sean East hit a mid-range jumper on back-to-back possessions to give Bradley its largest lead of the half at 8 points. Drake would battle back from behind once again thanks to DJ Wilkins and Joseph Yesufu who would score the next 8 points and even things at 13-13 with 8:28 left in the first half. Amongst that Drake run would come even more bad news for this Bradley team, as Ja'Shon Henry was running back on defense to defend the fast break he came down awkward on his ankle and immediately hit the floor in a lot of pain. Henry would exit the game and would not return, bringing Bradley's total number of scholarship players remaining available to just 6. Despite this Bradley kept battling and regained the lead, thanks to a Darrius Hannah jump shot, at 21-20 with 3:23 left in the half. Jayson Kent would give Bradley the momentum swing they would need going into halftime when he hit a big 3-pointer with 30 seconds in the half to give the Braves a 29-24 advantage at halftime. Rienk Mast started off the scoring in the second half but Bradley would go cold and their lead would quickly evaporate. Garrett Sturtz hit a jumper in the paint with 16:21 left in the game that tied the game at 31 and gave Drake a nice momentum boost that they had been lacking. The Bulldogs would grab their first lead of the second half courtesy of a DJ Wilkins jumpshot that found the bottom of the net and made it 37-36. After an Antonio Thomas jumper brought the Braves within a single point Sean East would get into the paint and score to give Bradley a 42-41 lead, with 6:36 left to play, that they wouldn't relinquish. Then with just under 3 minutes left in the game Freshman Jayson Kent would hit one of his biggest 3's of the season and put Bradley in the driver's seat with an 8 point lead. Bradley would close this game out by going 12-14 from the free throw line and leave no pray of Drake coming back. The highlight of this game was Freshman Darrius Hannah's and-1 poster dunk over Joseph Yesufu in the closing seconds to put an exclamation point on the Braves victory. And with that victory Bradley locked up the #8 seed in the upcoming Arch Madness Tournament. The Bulldogs, with the loss and the win by Loyola-Chicago, failed to capture a share of the MVC regular season title and will be the #2 seed.