'This was sweet': How Bradley basketball crushed Missouri State in its road opener

How good were Rienk Mast, Malevy Leons, Connor Hickman and the Bradley Braves defense Saturday?

Good enough to blow out Missouri State, 58-40, in a Missouri Valley Conference road opener before 3,582 at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Mo.

Good enough to post their first 2-0 start in the Valley since beating Drake and Southern Illinois to open the 2012-13 Valley season under former coach Geno Ford.

Good enough to hold an opponent to the lowest point total against Bradley in a regular-season Missouri Valley Conference road game in nearly 30 years.

Good enough to shut out — zero points on 0-of-7 shooting — Bears leading scorer Chance Moore, who came into the game averaging 15.5 points.

Good enough to hold Missouri to 31.4% shooting and 2-of-15 from 3.

Box score: Bradley 58, Missouri State 40 | Standings: Missouri Valley Conference

"Confidence and execution goes up (with Rienk Mast back from injury)," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "Having him back has been great. Pop Weathers gave us some solid minutes. Connor and Malevy impact the game even if they aren't shooting the ball great, and Duke Deen hit some big 3s to ice the game for us.

"It's good to be 2-0. But it's just 2-0 … we have to keep getting better."

They were certainly feeling better after giving big center Mast a coveted win on Missouri State's floor. And seeing Hickman steal a pass, race in from halfcourt and dunk. And watching Leons reel in 10 rebounds.

"The last time we won here was my freshman year, and I wasn't playing," said Mast, the junior center still wearing a brace just three games back from an MCL sprain in his right knee. "So I wanted to get one here, get this one real bad. They beat us twice last year, one on a buzzer-beater.

"This was sweet to get, especially the way we got it. Just executed the game plan perfectly. We were locked in on the scouting report. For sure, the best defensive game this year so far. We just locked in on them, protected each other and gave them nowhere to drive."

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Getting started

The teams opened a combined 2-of-11 in the first 4:30 of the game. Then Bradley broke away when Leons hammered down a dunk coming off the under-12 media break, and Mast followed with a hook for 12-8.

Hickman then picked off a pass on the wing and raced the other way for a jam finish and 14-8 lead with 8:35 left in the half.

"He's always trying to dunk in the warmups," Leons said, grinning after Hickman's play. "I've never seen him dunk in a game, so that first one was really cool.

"But we did it the way our identity is, compete and defend."

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Plenty of heroes

Bradley guard Hickman finished with eight points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

Young forward Christian Davis came off the bench and stopped a Missouri State run, grabbing a key offensive rebound.

"I thought first half he wasn't as focused and locked in, so I got on him a little bit," Wardle said of Davis. "He responded at halftime. He came out in the second half and made that offensive rebound, it was a huge game-changing moment. He's a weapon out there. We needed all those quality minutes because Darius Hannah was in foul trouble, too."

Mast made three straight hooks to give BU a 34-22 lead in the first 2:45 of that second half.

By the midway point of the half, Missouri State got Bradley's lead down to seven. But then Mast hit a 3, and Davis grabbed that offensive rebound and put it back in for 44-32 with 8:51 left and the Bears were done.

"Christian had an offensive rebound that was really big for us, brought us the momentum," Leons said.

Bradey hit five 3-pointers in a seven-minute stretch on the way to a 19-4 run and a 58-36 lead.BU point guard Deen settled it with consecutive 3s in the final four minutes.

"We had to get Rienk the ball more inside and we did that in the second half," Wardle said. "Just overall a really good team effort. But the message before the game was our defense has to drive the offense and it can't be the other way around."

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They said it

∙ Bradley coach Brian Wardle, on the team's approach, and execution against Missouri State: "Our No. 1 key was transition defense, building a wall. We thought if we could take away their first 8-10 seconds of offense we could probably get them under eight or 10 seconds on the shot clock. It was a low-possession game, but I liked what we were doing defensively and we were getting good looks offensively."

∙ Bradley center Rienk Mast, when asked if he was surprised how well he's been able to play after just three games back from a significant knee injury that still has him in a brace: "Got to be honest, after the flight here I was a little sore. But I got on the court and it felt good. I've been pleasantly surprised by how the knee has felt so far. I'm not 100%, but I can help my team win right now and that's great."

∙ Mast, on how different the team looks from the group that was swept in Cancun by Auburn and Liberty while he was out: "I try to bring a lot of physicality and we missed that against Auburn, I think I could have made a difference. Our defense has really picked up. We share the ball better now on our offense. The flow is better and we're going more inside-out."

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Bravely Speaking

Bradley is 6-3 (2-0 in Valley). Missouri State is 4-4 (1-1). … Bradley's victory was its first at Missouri State since the 2019-20 season. … The 58-40 final marked the fewest points allowed by Bradley in a regular-season Valley game since a 55-38 win at home over Loyola on Feb. 22, 2014. … It was also the fewest points allowed by Bradley in a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season road game since a 53-36 win at Indiana State on Feb. 17, 1993 under head coach Jim Molinari. … Missouri State star and Arkansas transfer Chance Moore, who the Braves held scoreless Saturday, was shooting 60% from the field and 54% from 3 for a 15.5 scoring average before running into the Bradley defense. … Bradley center Rienk Mast was 6 of 11 from the field, had six rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 25 minutes. … Duke Deen and Darius Hannah each lost minutes because they had four fouls. … Bradley guard Connor Hickman had nine assists, while the rest of the BU and Missouri State players, combined, had 11. … The Braves dominated the boards, 39-27. … Missouri State had no players reach double figures in scoring. … Bradley is now 2-6 in Missouri Valley Conference road openers under coach Brian Wardle. … Of the last 31 Missouri Valley champions, 25 have opened 2-0 in conference play. … The Braves play at Tuesday at SIU-Edwardsville, then are idle for 11 days until a road game at Arkansas on Dec. 17.

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. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

FINAL: Bradley 58, Missouri State 40

8:50 p.m.: The Braves jump to 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

It's a blowout

8:40 p.m.: Mast's 3 started a 16-4 run over 7:10 to a 55-36 blowout with 3:28 left, capped by a 3 from Duke Deen.

Mast has 15 points, Connor Hickman has 9 assists and Malevy Leons has 9 rebounds.

Fouls, 3s and defense

8:30 p.m.: Mast hit a 3, and Christian Davis a layup and Bradley rolled to a 44-32 lead with 7:55 left in the game.

Bradley's defense, meanwhile, shut down Missouri State scoring leader Chance Moore, holding him scoreless on 0 of 7 shooting as the under-8 break arrived.

The Braves were playing down the stretch with starting guard Duke Deen and starting forward Darius Hannah each on four fouls.

Fast fact

8:19 p.m.: Bradley last opened 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference by beating Drake and Southern Illinois to open the 2012-13 Valley season under Geno Ford.

Hickman is dishin'

8:16 p.m.: Bradley guard Connor Hickman with 6 assists early in the second half, while Rienk Mast has a game-high 10 points and Ville Tahvanainen off the bench for 9. Adds up to a 39-28 BU lead with 11:42 left.

Mast, Mast, Mast

8:10 p.m.: Bradley center Rienk Mast opened the second half with three straight short hook shots to give BU a 34-22 lead at the 17:14 mark.

Braves forward Malevy Leons added a layup to push BU to a 36-25 lead with 15:30 left as the under-16 media break arrived.

HALFTIME: Bradley 26, Missouri State 18

7:46 p.m.: The Braves added a 3 from Connor Hickman for a 26-15 lead with 2:32 left in the half, then settled for an eight-point edge at halftime.

The Braves have held Missouri State to 30% shooting in the first half. Ville Tahvanainen leads all players with 6 points on 3 of 5 shooting. Connor Hickman has 5 for the Braves.

Missouri State has not hit a 3 yet after four tries.

Christian Davis is really good

7:36 p.m.: The Braves pulled away from Missouri State to build a nine-point lead.

Ville Tahvanainen led a 16-4 run by the Braves over a span of 8:27 in the half, hitting a jumper for an 18-10 lead with 6:25 left.

The Braves rolled to a 23-14 lead after a 3 from forward Christian Davis with 3:42 left in the half.

A dunk from Connor Hickman

7:27 p.m.: BU opened up a six-point lead when Malevy Leons hammered down a dunk coming off the under-12 media break, and Rienk Mast followed with a hook for 12-8.

Then Bradley guard Connor Hickman picked off a pass on the wing and raced the other way for a jam finish and 14-8 lead with 8:35 left in the half.

Tough shooting early on

7:18 p.m.: Bradley and Missouri State tied 8-8 at the under-12 media break.

Both teams struggling from the field, with BU shooting 4 of 14 and Bears shooting 3 of 10.

They've combined for 0 of 6 from 3-point range.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'This was sweet': How Bradley crushed Missouri State in its MVC road opener