'The star was a star': Bradley extends win streak on clutch 3 with :20 left vs. Southern Illinois

Southern Illinois had the biggest weapon, but the Bradley Braves had the dagger in a defensive battle for high ground in the Missouri Valley Conference race Sunday.

Rienk Mast delivered a game-winning 3-pointer with 20.6 seconds left to lift Bradley to a 50-48 victory over SIU in a must-win game for the Braves. Bradley won its eighth straight and held ground in the conference lead at Banterra Center in Carbondale.

Mast was fouled on the play and made the free throw to take the Braves from a 48-46 deficit to a 50-48 lead.

Box score: Bradley 50, Southern Illinois 48 | Preview: BU at SIU | Standings: MVC

"Honestly, it's the biggest shot of my career," Mast said. "So much on the line in this game. It was one of our go-to plays, with a little wrinkle in there that Ja'Shon (Henry) would hand it off and I would pop and he would roll, and Connor (Hickman) found me on the left and I made the shot.

"It (the shot) felt good. I had just missed a couple close ones and that one felt good coming out of my hand and it went in."

The Braves survived a 3 from above the arc by Jawaun Newton with 10 seconds left, the ball spinning around the inside of the rim and peeling out.

"I've been on the winning side of those possessions where the ball gets knocked loose and there's an offensive rebound and a 3 goes in and out," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "I've seen us miss those shots, I've seen the other teams make them against us. It was nice to see us have a little luck when 13 (Newton) had that shot."

The Braves denied overtime when SIU star Marcus Domask — who had a game-high 23 points — grabbed the rebound of Newton's miss under the rim, but was shut down by Bradley defensive hammer Malevy Leons.

Domask gave up the ball to teammate Xavier Johnson, whose layup with Mast in his face failed, and the Braves avoided overtime.

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"(What we talked about) In our timeout … we had run a play for Rienk about a minute earlier where we got him a great look from 3 and it looked like it was going in," Wardle said. "So (coming off the timeout) we were going to try to post up (Henry) or get Rienk Mast on a replace.

"Hickman made a great decision. We told Rienk, 'If you're open for the 3, shoot it.' Anytime you are down 2 on the road and can get a good look at 3, you have to take it. I think it was one of the biggest shots of Rienk Mast's career. He stepped up big time for us, the star was a star and he made a big play at the end for us."

And created one of those lasting images for the Braves. The 6-foot-10 Mast going up, releasing the ball. Pumping his arm wildly after the shot went through.

The BU bench celebrating while SIU's Troy D'Amico stood in the paint, hands on top of his head in shock.

Mast had plenty of company in the hero's role, as the Braves got determined inside work from Henry and used Hickman and Zek Montgomery to run the offense down the stretch and saw Malevy Leons shut down Domask when it counted in the late minutes.

"Hickman, defensively, was really dialed in," Wardle said. "He did a good job of handling pressure. He did a great job of handling the show while Duke Deen was in foul trouble.

"And we put the ball in Zek's hands a lot because we liked the matchup he had, there was less ball pressure on him. Zek made a lot of big plays down the stretch for us."

Magnificent Malevy

Leons was limited to three points Sunday. But his value was at the other end. He had three blocks and four steals. He shut down Domask in the last 14 minutes, stopping him with two blocks and two steals and holding him to 2-of-9 shooting.

"I thought Malevy's defense on Domask the last eight minutes was really good," Wardle said. "If he's not the Defensive Player of the Year now, I don't know what he's got to do.

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"He made a lot of big plays in those last eight minutes, a block, a steal. He's long and his anticipation is there."

Henry kept them steady

Fifth-year senior Ja'Shon Henry kept the Braves in a tight game with his inside presence.

He had a layup and-1 with 30 seconds left in the first half, then another layup and-1 for a 32-29 lead at 15:49 of the second half, and another 47 seconds later and another with 8:14 left for a 38-37 lead.

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"Coach and I watched some film on ways I could attack these guys," Henry said. "My teammates got me the ball in spots I could score, and I was able to make some baskets down the stretch there."

Henry finished with 12 points and five rebounds, and now has nine MVC outings in which he's reached double figures in scoring. His steady, poised presence was huge for Bradley in a tight game Sunday.

"We got Henry a post touch for an and-1 at the end of the first half," Wardle said. "We liked his matchups in the second half, we stayed big, played big, which kept them playing big and in some matchups we kind of liked.

"He had a huge and-1, big-time drives and finishes for us. He played like a fifth-year senior and that's what we need."

The ride home, and scoreboard watching

Bradley piled on its bus to head back to Peoria, with the Belmont at Drake game looming on the Valley's Sunday calendar.

"I'm sure our players will be watching the Belmont-Drake game," Wardle said. "There's no denying it now. We have two games left and we'll definitely be watching it on the bus."

They saw Drake take apart Belmont, 70-56 in Iowa.

That left Bradley and Drake tied for first in the Valley lead at 14-4. Indiana State is in third at 13-5, and Belmont and Southern Illinois are tied for fourth at 12-6.

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In the huddle

• Bradley coach Brian Wardle, on his older players: "All 3 of our veterans — Rienk, Ja'Shon, Ville — played well in a hostile environment. That's a tough place to play. I'm proud of our guys, staying in the middle, not getting too high or too low and staying confident."

• Rienk Mast, on preparing for the Southern Illinois game and what was at stake: "Going into the game you have that on your mind. Once you start you can't think of it too much."

• Wardle, on the path ahead in the final two games: "Our focus is right here within. We've put ourselves in position to win this outright in seven days. It's going to take a championship-level mindset and championship-level execution and performance to do it."

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Bravely Speaking

Bradley is 21-8 overall, 14-4 in the Valley. SIU slips to 20-9 (12-6). … Bradley extended its win streak to eight straight in the Valley. That ties the 1987-88 and 1959-60/'60-61 streaks for fourth-longest in the MVC in BU history. … The Braves have won five straight road games, seventh-longest run away from home in program history. The road win streak is the seventh-longest active streak in the nation. … Bradley got a team-best 13 points from Rienk Mast, with seven rebounds and five assists. … Ja'Shon Henry had 12 points and five rebounds. … Connor Hickman had nine points, two assists, a steal and a block. … Malevy Leons had seven rebounds, four steals and three blocks. … Zek Montgomery had nine points, a block and a steal. … SIU got 23 points from Marcus Domask on 9-of-18 shooting, plus nine rebounds. … The two defenses combined for eight blocks and 12 steals. … Bradley shot 4-of-18 from 3 and SIU 5-of-21. … The Braves struggled at the free throw line (6-of-13). … Bradley point guard Duke Deen and SIU guard Lance Jones both were held scoreless. … Bradley fifth-year forward Ja'Shon Henry has 990 career points as he pushes to become the 51st player in Bradley history to reach 1,000 career points.

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.

Mast is the hero

3 p.m.: Rienk Mast hits a 3 with 20 seconds left, fouled, makes the free throw for a 4-point play and gives Bradley a 50-48 lead.

Braves down 2 with 99 seconds left

2:51 p.m.: Bradley trails 45-43 on pair of Domask free throws with 1:39 left.

Mast puts Bradley up

2:43 pm: Rienk Mast with his first points of the second half, rolls to the rim for a contested layup to give Bradley a 42-41 lead with 3:41 left.

All tied up

2:35 p.m.: Ja'Shon Henry drove to the rim again to put Bradley up 38-37, then Hickman put away a layup at 7:39.

But Domask hit a 3 with 7:17 left for a 40-40 tie.

SIU takes the lead

2:29 p.m.: Southern Illinois got a steal and dunk from Dalton Banks at 9:35, then a jumper from Domask with 8:36 left for a 37-36 lead.

That marked the first lead for the Salukis since 12-11 on a Domask jumper with 11:13 left in the first half.

The Braves, meanwhile, were on a scoreless drought of 4:34 and had no points in the game from guard Duke Deen and 2 from forward Malevy Leons.

Bradley 36, SIU 33

2:18 p.m.: Henry again at the rim for 34-31, then the Braves got a layup and-1 from Zek Montgomery, but he missed the free throw, and settled for a 36-33 lead with 11:46 left.

SIU has shut down BU point guard Duke Deen in this game. He's scoreless on four tries, and sitting with 3 fouls.

Henry making plays

2:07 p.m.: Ja'Shon Henry drove to the rim, fought the ball in and was fouled for and-1 with 15:49 left, giving Bradley a 31-29 lead at the media break with a free throw coming.

Halftime numbers

1:48 p.m.: SIU forward Marcus Domask with a game-high 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 18 minutes. The Salukis are 3 of 12 from 3-point range.

Bradley led by Connor Hickman -- who has been playing a lot of point guard in this game -- with 7 points in 14 minutes. Rienk Mast also has 7 points, with 3 rebounds.

HALFTIME: Bradley 26, SIU 24

1:45 p.m.: It was a slow tempo, defensive focused first half as Bradley scratched out a 24-20 lead to the final minute.

Domask got a shoulder into Leons for a short jumper to cut it to 24-22 with 41 seconds left.

But Ja'Shon Henry muscled up a layup and-1 against JD Muila with 30 seconds left (free throw no good), and Bradley went to halftime with a 26-24 lead.

Braves up by 1

1:33 pm.: Mast with a deep 3 from the right wing for a 16-12 lead for the first points by either team in 5:24.

The Braves went 1 of 6 from the field -- including five attempted 3s -- during that stretch.

Bradley got a pair of free throws from Malevy Leons to take an 18-17 lead to the media break at 3:52.

Domask heating up

1:20 p.m.: Marcus Domask came off the bench following the timeout and hit consecutive 3s over Henry to cut BU's lead to 9-8.

The Braves went to the media break with 11:31 left in the half holding an 11-10 lead.

Bradley put Leons back on Domask coming off the break, and Domask hit a jumper from 10 feet for a 12-11 Salukis lead.

That gave Domask 10 points in the first 9 minutes of the game.

Bradley starts fast, SIU answers

1:15 p.m.: Bradley built a 7-2 lead in the opening minutes when Rienk Mast had a driving layup and guard Connor Hickman hit a jumper in the paint and then a 3.

Then Ja'Shon Henry took a feed from Mast under the rim and fought it up and in for 9-2 to force an SIU timeout on a 9-0 run with 14:11 left in the first half.

BU had Malevy Leons on SIU star Marcus Domask and put Henry on him in stretches, too.

SIU, meanwhile, opened 1 of 7 shooting, including 0 of 4 from 3-point range.

Starting lineups

12:47 p.m.: Bradley opens with its traditional starting lineup of guards Connor Hickman and Duke Deen, wing Zek Montgomery, forward Malevy Leons and center Rienk Mast.

Southern Illinois sends out guards Lance Jones, Xavier Johnson and Jawaun Newton, with forwards Marcus Domask and Clarence Rupert.

Braves held SIU star Domask to 5 points in a 62-52 win Feb. 1 in Peoria.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'The star was a star': Bradley extends win streak on clutch 3 with :20 left vs. Southern Illinois