'That was a scary game': Bradley moves on to Arch Madness semis after tight victory over UNI

ST. LOUIS — It was like two gunslingers facing each other in the street, trading shot after shot, one with a chip on his shoulder, the other trying to carry his team on his shoulders to an upset.

Rienk Mast got mad, Bowen Born got Northern Iowa even — but in the end the No. 1 Bradley Braves got ahead just enough to hold off a No. 8 UNI upset bid and win their Arch Madness quarterfinal, 72-66, on Friday at Enterprise Center.

The Braves will play No. 5 Indiana State on Saturday at 2:30 in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals."That was a scary game," Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. "We knew we were going to be in for a war. Anytime you play someone for a third time it's challenging.

"I'm proud of our composure and execution down the stretch. We just had to put bodies all over Born and hope he missed. He got going second half and he was lights out the rest of the way.

"But so was Rienk Mast for us. He had a chip on his shoulder. He was great, tremendous. Obviously I don't like playing them that much in the first game (35 minutes for Mast) of a tournament but we were feeding the hot hand and he was popping on their drop coverage and he read that right away. Then we caught him on some drives and we got him in the post and he showed his versatility. He had a huge chip on his shoulder today. And he'll probably say it in a minute."

Mast had a career-high 30 points -- including 20 in the first half -- and added nine rebounds. Born, the little Panthers guard, poured in 27 points in the second half and finished with 34 on a mind-numbing 29 shots -- including one stretch in which he made three straight 3s.

"Not winning Player of the Year," Mast said, when asked the source of his chip. "Before those awards were announced I looked it up, and it was the first time in a decade a player from the best team didn't win that.

"So that's my chip right now. Normally I would say I don't care about individual team awards, it's a team-first approach for us. So from here on that's what we're going to do, try to win this thing as a team."

Box score: Bradley 72, UNI 66 | Preview: Numbers to know for Arch Madness | Results: Arch Madness

Get to know Rienk Mast: The beloved player at the heart of Bradley's magical Valley run

The Braves led by 9 in the first half behind Mast's dominating presence, as he notched 10 straight points in the game's first 5:36.

Born brought UNI back in the second half, hitting a 3 from the right wing midway through to push his team past Bradley, 51-50 for its first lead since the game's third minute.

"I was trying to will these guys, this group," Born said. "That's what was in my head the entire time."

Said Wardle: "We tried to deny Born but he's really hard to deny. When he gets it going … well, he's just a really good scorer.

"We knew this was going to come down to the wire. Ja'Shon Henry made some free throws for us, came through for us, which was huge."

The Braves left points on the table at the free throw line, where they were 17 of 28. But they showed a champion's composure and cool in the clutch and sent Northern Iowa home.

"We needed one less play from Bradley and two more from us when it was tied, 2-3 minutes to go," Northern Iowa veteran coach Ben Jacobson said. "And you would have seen us in here 25-30 minutes ago, right? (The winning team comes into the room first).

"It was that close."

Malevy Leons had a block party

With the game and the season on the line in those final three minutes, Born ran into Bradley forward and MVC Defensive Player of the Year Malevy Leons, who defended him while carrying four fouls in the deep stretch.

Born tried three straight drives to the rim and was stopped on all of them. Leons blocked two of them -- the first with 2:54 left and Bradley holding a 62-60 lead.

The Braves grabbed the ball off that block and went the other way for a 3 from Duke Deen and 65-60 lead.They put the game away on six free throws and a layup from Ja'Shon Henry in the final 6:16.

"I knew he was going to go to the basket and I just wanted to get there," Leons said of his first block on Born. "Maybe it was close to a goaltend, but happy it didn't get called and we stopped him."

Leons had 3 blocks and a steal in the game to become the first MVC player in history to record 50 blocks and 50 steals in a season.

His historic 50-50 was achieved when he Leons blocked Drew Daniel's shot in the lane with 13:22 left.

"There's so many great players in this league and it's really cool to be able to write some history," Leons said. "I really wanted to get 50-50 this year. Because next year I want to get it again."

The big numbers

Leons closed the game with 51 steals and 52 blocks with more time on the court to come.

Bradley, meanwhile, won its 11th straight game, the school's third-longest streak in Valley play in program history and tied for 10th-longest overall. It's the fourth-longest active win streak in the nation.

Bradley center Rienk Mast has double figures scoring in 25 of his 26 games.

Mast's 30-point effort was the most by a Bradley player in Arch Madness since Sam Maniscalco had 31 in a win over Creighton on March 5, 2010.

MVC awards: Bradley basketball pulled in a Missouri Valley awards haul. Here's what BU won

The Red Sea

Bradley fans had the biggest turnout of any team in Enterprise Center, and they were felt throughout the game.

The Braves say fans can purchase tickets for Saturday's semifinal by visiting archmadness.com, The Enterprise Center (online or in person at the box office) in St. Louis.

Analysis: Here are 3 reasons to be even more excited after Bradley's historic victory

In the huddle

● Bradley head coach Brian Wardle, on putting 6-foot-7 Malevy Leons on 5-foot-11 Northern Iowa scoring star Bowen Born in the final minutes:

"It's a matchup I wanted to get to in the second half but couldn't because of the foul trouble. That kid (Born) is a competitor. I would have road that hand too. We did it ourselves with Rienk Mast and Ja'Shon Henry, pounded it inside."

● Bradley forward Malevy Leons, on shutting down UNI star Bowen Born in the last few minutes:"We just want to put some length on him, make him think about it before he takes that shot."

● Born, on having to deal with Leons:

"I was just trying to be aggressive against whoever they put on me. I had some stretches in there where I got it going. I don't think of the things I can't do. When I see that matchup I think of the things I can do. Against Leons, I felt my speed, being low, that was kind of what was going throuogh my mind."

Bravely Speaking

Bradley is 24-8 now, and 17-4 in MVC games. Northern Iowa's season ended at 14-18 (9-12). … Bradley's Rienk Mast finished with 30 points and 9 rebounds on 12 of 20 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. … BU forward Malevy Leons had 10 points, 3 blocks a steal and 5 rebounds. … Veteran forward Ja'Shon Henry had 12 points, 8 rebounds and went 8 of 14 from the free throw line. He is 7-0 all-time with BU in Arch Madness. … Henry, Mast and Leons combined for 52 of Bradley's 72 points. … The Braves were 7 of 23 from 3-point range. … Northern Iowa was 7 of 21 from 3-point range, five of which were made by Bowen Born. … The Braves won the boards (41-30) and the bench (18-7) and points in the paint (30-22) and led for 31:31. … Indiana State knocked out Belmont -- the only team in the field that beat Bradley twice this season -- in the quarterfinal Friday afternoon. … The Braves play the Sycamores in a semifinal that will be a third game in three days for Indiana State.

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.

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FINAL: Bradley 72, Northern Iowa 66

To the wire

2:08 p.m.: Bradley scratches out 67-64 lead with 58.4 seconds left and the ball after Born misses a 3.

Leons with big block

2:03 p.m.: Rienk Mast layup at 3:35 for 62-58.

Born answers with short jumper.

Then Malevy Leons blocks layup on Born with 2:54 left, play turns other way and Deen hits a 3 65-60 2:27.

Bradley at the free throw line

1:58 pm.: BU forward Ja'Shon Henry fighting under the rim, two different trips gets fouled, splits the free throws both times. It's the different right now, as Bradley is up 60-58 with 3:54 left.

The Braves are 12 of 22 from the free throw line.

Born battling

1:46 p.m.: Bowen Born with another 3 and then a driving layup, then another drive for a free throw and UNI holds a 54-52 lead with 8:10 left.

Bradley guard Duke Deen run over by Tytan Anderson during scramble for loose ball, needs help from training staff and is out of the game after a timeout.

Braves have not scored in 3 minutes.

Northern Iowa takes the lead

1:35 p.m.: Connor Hickman runner in the lane for 44-41 BU. Born answers layup 44-43. Needing an answer, Ja'Shon Henry turned in the paint and powered up a shot to the rim and-1. He missed the free throw, dropping Bradley to 4 of 10 in the game but with a 46-43 lead.

UNI then tied it on the next trip down the floor on a 3 by Landon Wolf at 13:08.

Tytan Anderson then hit a pair of free throws to give Northern Iowa the lead, 48-47, with 12:14 left. That marked the Panthers first lead since the game's third minute.

Bowen Born heats up

1:22 p.m.: Northern Iowa cuts Bradley's lead to 42-39 with 15:53 left on three straight 3s by guard Bowen Born. He then drove to the rim off a BU turnover and was fouled, awaiting free throws after the under-16 break.

HALFTIME: Bradley 34, Northern Iowa 28

12:55 p.m.: Bradley's Rienk Mast with 20 points and 5 rebounds in 16 minutes. It's his seventh 20-plus point game of his career, and four away from his career high.

Sidekick Malevy Leons with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal. He has become the first player in Valley history to record 50 blocks and 50 steals in a season.

No other Braves player has more than 3 points. Duke Deen scoreless on four shots.

Northern Iowa sniper Bowen Born, often facing double-teams, has 7 points on 2 of 8 shooting from the field. Michael Duax leads with 8 points.

Still dominating

12:45 pm: Rienk Mast left open, hits his third 3 of the game from the right wing for a 32-24 lead with 3:23 left in the half. He has 20 points.

Rienk Mast has 14 points

12:34 p.m.: Rienk Mast continued to punish Northern Iowa, with a layup at 10:30, then a jumper at 9:52 for 14 points in nine minutes.

When Ville Tahvanainen came off the bench and drained a 3 with 8:39 left for a 23-15 lead, UNI took a timeout.

Magnificent Malevy

12:25 p.m.: Bradley forward Malevy Leons blocks Drew Daniel's shot in the lane with 13:22 left for his 50th block of the season. Then he blocks another on James Betz at 12:46.

That makes Leons the first player in Valley history to record 50 steals and 50 blocks in a season.

Then Leons heads to the other end, hits a pullup jumper for 16-10 with 12:22 left.

Mast on a roll

12:20 p.m.: Bradley big man Rienk Mast with 10 straight points in a span of 5:36, hitting a short turnaround jumper for 11-8 after the break, then another 3 from above the arc at 14:18 for 14-10 lead.

Braves with early lead

12:14 p.m.: Rienk Mast with a baseline hook to start Bradley toward a lead, then follows that next trip with a 3 from above the arc for 9-6 as the break arrives with 15:26 left.

Starting lineups

11:48 a.m.: The Braves are in their white throwback script uniforms for this quarterfinal game.

Bradley rolls out guards Connor Hickman and Duke Deen, wing Zek Montgomery, forward Malevy Leons and center Rienk Mast.

Northern Iowa goes with guards Trey Campbell, Bowen Born and Tytan Anderson and forwards Michael Duax and James Betz.

2023 Arch Madness schedule

Thursday's first round

• (8) Northern Iowa 75, (9) Illinois State 62

• (5) Indiana State 97, (12) Evansville 58

• (7) Murray State 78, (10) Valparaiso 50

• (6) Missouri State 74, (11) Illinois Chicago 57

Friday's quarterfinals

• (1) Bradley 72, (8) Northern Iowa 66

• (5) Indiana State 94, (4) Belmont 91

• 7 — (2) Drake vs. (7) Murray State, late

• 8 — (3) Southern Illinois vs. (6) Missouri State, late

Saturday's semifinals

• (1) Bradley vs. (5) Indiana State, 2:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

• Winners 7 & 8, 5 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Sunday's championship

• Semifinal winners, 1 p.m. (CBS)

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'That was a scary game': Bradley moves on to Arch Madness semifinals