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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Bradley made 11 of 12 shots at the free throw line in overtime as the Braves knocked off Eastern Illinois, 87-83, on Tuesday night in Lantz Arena. It was the first visit for the Braves to Charleston since 1919 when the teams played in EIU's Pemberton Hall Gym.
Bradley improved to 4-3. EIU dropped to 4-3 as the Panthers lost their first home game this season. EIU returns to action on Sunday at Illinois-Chicago with a 3 p.m. tip.
The game ended tied 72-72 at the end of regulation as the Braves came back from down seven points with 4:53 left to play in the game. EIU led 70-63 after a pair of
Cornell Johnston free throws.
Bradley cut the lead to one with two baskets by JoJo McGlaston, the second one a three-point play with 3:12 to play.
Casey Teson extended the lead to three points with a jumper at the free throw line with 2:46 to play. Bradley tied the game with three free throws in the final 1:13, the final two by Darrell Brown with 23 seconds remaining. EIU had a chance to win the game in regulation but missed on a 3-pointer by
Montell Goodwin with two seconds remaining. EIU ended the night shooting 7-of-28 from 3-point range.
In the overtime session Bradley jumped out to a five point lead with McGlaston finishing off a three point play and Koch Bar converting a lay-up with 2:23 to play. The Braves extended the lead to seven points on four more free throws as they only scored from the foul line in the final two minutes of the game. McGlaston and Bar both led the Braves with 17 points. Bar added 14 rebounds for a double-double.
EIU trimmed the lead to three points on a jumper by
Muusa Dama and 3-pointer by
Demetrius McReynolds with 42 seconds left. Brown then made two free throws to push lead back to double figures as he was one of five Bradley players in double figures with 14 points. McReynolds led all players with 25 points going 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Dama finished with a double-double for the Panthers with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Bradley led 41-37 at the half as the Braves shot 60 percent in the opening twenty minutes. EIU opened the game with hot shooting from McReynolds as his 3-pointer at 12:53 gave EIU a seven point lead at 14-7. Bradley would come back to lead by as many as eight points in the first half. McReynolds and
Ray Crossland scored the final four points of the half for EIU to cut the lead to four. Crossland had 19 points.
In the second half the Panthers took the lead with a Crossland lay-up with 10:55 to go that put EIU up 53-52. EIU would hold the lead at two possessions for most of the second half as Bradley scored 11 of its 13 points over a six minute span from the foul line. The Braves ended the night 24-of-35 from the foul line.
EIU forced 24 Bradley turnovers converting those into 29 points. The Braves were able to stay in the game despite cooling off in the second half with solid rebounding. Bradley finished the night with 53-30 rebound advantage.