PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley senior guard Andrew Warren scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and the Braves (7-16, 1-11 MVC) picked up their first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season, 69-61, against Creighton Wednesday afternoon at a sparsely populated Carver Arena.
With the brunt of the Midwest blizzard forecast to hit Peoria during the course of the regularly-scheduled 7 p.m. game, Bradley officials made the decision Tuesday morning to move up the start time to 3 o'clock. Although the official paid attendance was 8,091, a fraction of that number braved the conditions to attend the game.
Bradley sophomore guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards added a career-best 22 points for the Braves and provided the early spark that helped the home squad jump out to a 10-2 lead. The gave developed into a back-and-forth affair and after playing to a 25-25 tie at halftime, the second half featured three ties and two lead changes.
Jahenns Manigat drained a 3-pointer that gave the Bluejays their only lead of the second half, 53-52, with 5:30 left in the game. After Manigat banked in another 3-pointer that forced a 56-56 tie with 4:10 remaining, Bradley responded with a 7-0 run on a Simms-Edwards layup, a Warren steal and layup and a Warren corner 3-pointer for a 63-56 advantage with 2:34 left. While Creighton scored the next five to close the gap to 63-61, Bradley made 6-of-8 free throw attempts in the final 1:28 to close out the win.
Creighton freshman forward Doug McDermott paced the Bluejays with 19 points and 17 rebounds. Antoine Young added14 points and nine assists, while Maginat chipped in 12 points off the bench. Dodie Dunson was Bradley's third double-digit scorer with 10 points for the Braves.
Creighton shot just 32.8 percent from the field, including an 11-for-34 (.324) effort from 3-point range. The 34 3-point field goal attempts were the second-most ever by a Bradley opponent (36 by Dayton Dec. 22, 1990) and equaled the Creighton school record. While the Bluejays combined that with a 7-for-24 (.292) effort from inside the arc, Bradley countered its 4-for-15 (.267) accuracy from long range with a 20-for-45 (.444) showing from 2-point territory.
The Braves will be on the road for their next two games, beginning with a Saturday afternoon tilt at Southern Illinois that will be televised throughout Central Illinois on WTVP World (47.2 over the air, 218 on Comcast Digital Cable and 121 on Mediacom Digital Cable).
