Bradley men's basketball gives gift of big victory to fan on her 100th birthday

PEORIA — All Betty Volturno wanted for her birthday was a Bradley victory.

And that's exactly what she got Saturday on the day she turned 100, sitting in Section 112 of the lower bowl in Carver Arena, where she watched the Braves men's basketball team flex on Maine in the second half on the way to a 71-39 feel-good victory before 3,515.

Malevy Leons had an NCAA Division I career-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (5-of-7 from 3), added six rebounds, three blocks and three assists to give BU (2-5) its first win of the season over a D-I school.

Ja'Shon Henry added 15 points and Rienk Mast broke out of his shooting slump with 3-of-3 from beyond the arc for a double-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds as BU pummeled Maine 43-17 in the second half.

"I started following basketball when we came to America," said Volturno, a Yorkshire, England native. "We went to all the sports, football, baseball, basketball. It was wonderful.

"But watching Bradley basketball was my favorite. I think my favorite player was probably Lavern Tart."

BOX SCORE:Bradley 71, Maine 39

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Tart was a guard who earned all-MVC honors and was drafted by the Celtics in the 1960s.

Volturno met Domenico Volturno during WWII in England and married him after the war. They came to the U.S., where he settled in as a professor of religious studies at Bradley University. They started watching Bradley basketball games in the Field House in 1960.

"We loved having players come to our house and eat dinner," said Volturno, whose daughter, Faith, was alongside on Saturday. "Chet Walker was our guest all the time."

On the floor Saturday, meanwhile, Bradley handed Maine its lunch.

"We had the yips there for a while in the first half, turnovers," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "But in that second half we were in attack mode, we put some tweaks into our offense. For a while we got into our own heads.

"I thought (senior forward) Ja'Shon Henry did a great job at halftime leading, challenging our group. Mikey Howell was huge tonight, Malevy Leons was huge and Rienk Mast broke out."

Mast-erful

Mast was in an epic shooting slump, 1-of-21 from 3-point range for the season. It wore on him. But his first attempt from the field came at 15:56 of the second half, and it was a 3 he drained.

Mast turned and pumped his fist, then came down the floor and hit two more 3s.

"Of course that's kind of in the back of your mind," Mast said. "To see that first one go in, it was kind of a relief. Then after that teammates kept finding me and they kept going in."

Game moments

Maine jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but Bradley charged back with a 3 from Leons to cut it to 9-8 and then a free throw from Zek Montgomery at 14:35 to tie it.

BU's first lead came on a steal by Mikey Howell to set up Ari Boya inside, where he was fouled and made a free throw for 10-9 with 13:26 left.

Henry dunked for a 12-11 lead with 9:43 left, and Bradley cleaned the glass and came right back for a 15-11 lead as hot-shooting freshman guard Connor Hickman hit a 3 from the left corner at 9:11.

Leons added a corner 3 at 5:50 left for 19-13, and then guard Terry Roberts' slick drive to the rim, followed by another 3 from Leons, made it 28-22 at halftime.

Ville Tahvanainen hit a 3 just 14 seconds into the second half to extend Bradley's lead to 31-22.

Mast hit his first 3 from the left wing and pumped his fist as Bradley built a 36-25 lead.

Hickman followed that with a 3 from the left wing and Mast hit another 3 on his second attempt for a 44-27 lead with 12:37 left.

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The Braves put up a 27-10 run on 10-of-13 shooting and 5-of-5 from 3-point range to build a lead up to 34 points.

Game over.

"Reps remove doubts," Wardle said of Mast's breakout. "Everyone goes through slumps. Rienk was in the gym taking shots the last two mornings, working through it.

"Our guys know they just have to stay the course."

They said it

Bradley forward Malevy Leons: "I think we needed this. We got it going. We got our swagger back."

• Leons, on the 27-10 second-half run: "Don't give them any breathing room. End it right away."

• Bradley forward Rienk Mast: "We were thinking 'Alright, it's a little bit fun out here.' "

Bravely Speaking

Bradley freshman guard Connor Hickman has scored 31 points in his last three games and shot scored 25 points and shot 59% from the field and 50% from 3. … Bradley shot 55% (11-of-20) from 3 against Maine. … The Braves took a rare win at the free throw line, out-scoring Maine 10-3. … Bradley pummeled Maine on the boards, 44-21. … The Braves had 21 turnovers. … Maine's roster included 11 non-U.S. players, including two from Serbia, one each from Nigeria, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary, Turkey and four from Canada. … Rienk Mast and Ja'Shon Henry have combined for six double-doubles through the first seven games this season as Bradley is one of just seven teams in the nation to have two players with multiple double-doubles. … The first seven fouls of the game went against Maine. Ville Tahvanainen logged BU's first foul with 11:46 left in the first half. … Next up for Bradley is a Missouri Valley Conference opener against Northern Iowa on Wednesday at Carver Arena.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bradley basketball: BU helps fan celebrate 100th birthday with win