Saturday, March 9, 2019 2:35 p.m.
Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo.
The Ramblers face off against the Bradley Braves for the second consecutive Saturday, this time for a chance to reach the Arch Madness final in St. Louis. Last Saturday, Loyola took care of Bradley 81-68. The Ramblers built a 19-point lead by halftime and survived a Bradley defensive push in the second half to get the win. Two and a half weeks earlier in Peoria, the Braves got a 61-54 win over Loyola by taking advantage of eight Loyola turnovers in the second half.
On Friday afternoon, fifth-seeded Bradley came from behind to beat four seed Missouri State, 61-58. Bradley held MVC first-teamer Tulio Da Silva to only three points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field, and out-rebounded the Bears 31-21. But perhaps most importantly, Bradley got to the free throw line 19 times and connected on 16 of them. Darryl Brown, the 5’10” junior point guard who leads the Braves in many stats, got to the free throw line 10 times, hit all his free throws, added 10 more points in shooting from the field, and connected on five assists.
And so, the Ramblers and Braves meet again in an eerily similar replay of last year’s Arch Madness semi-finals—the #1 seeded Ramblers vs. the #5 seeded Braves for a trip to the MVC Tournament Final. This year’s Ramblers also split their two games with Bradley similar to last season, losing in Peoria (61-54 Braves on Feb. 13) and winning at home.
Significantly, Lucas Williamson played very well in Loyola’s home win last Saturday, with 10 points, six rebounds, four steals, and a blocked shot. Williamson was not available in Loyola’s loss at Bradley, where Darrell Brown scored a game-high 21 points and only seven Loyola players saw court time.
In a tournament with back-to-back-to-back games, keeping players fresh is crucial, and Loyola may have an advantage headed into this game. Bradley had a close, hard-fought, stressful game against Missouri State on Friday while the Ramblers coasted with a 20+ point margin most of the way. Only one Rambler played more than 28 minutes on Friday (Clayton Custer with 31 minutes), while Darrel Brown (34) and Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye (37) each played some hard minutes for Bradley. Bradley had only eight players see game time, while Loyola had 10 see minutes on the court. And a potentially significant point is that since the last meeting between these two teams in the 2018 Arch Madness semi-finals, Loyola is 7-1 in season-ending games while Bradley is 1-1.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... df?id=8417Bradley game notes: https://bradleybraves.com/news/2019/3/8 ... inals.aspxTV/Streaming Video: CBS Sports Network
http://www.cbssports.com/cbs-sports-network/Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=251344Vegas odds: Pick ‘em