By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Five-foot-eight guard Duke Deen produced 22 points, six rebounds and five assists Tuesday night as the Bradley Braves, playing at home at in Peoria, Ill., opened a big lead in the second half and then held off the UTSA Roadrunners, 85-72.
Deen hit four of Bradley’s 10 three pointers on the night as the Braves, shooting 52 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from distance, bounced back from a loss to Washington State and improved to 2-1. UTSA, in its first game of the season against NCAA Division I competition, fell to 1-1.
The Braves entered the new year as the preseason favorites in the Missouri Valley Conference and won by 28 points in their opener over Southeast Missouri. Last weekend, they played on the road and lost by 17 at Washington State before returning home to face the Roadrunners, an American Athletic Conference team under the direction of first-year coach Austin Claunch.
In their third game, the Braves won the battle of the boards 48-28 and dominated in the last nine minutes of the first half, opening an 18-point lead at intermission. In full control, the Braves led by as many as 23 points and were up by at least 20 for much of the second half.
Bradley held an 85-65 advantage with 1:20 remaining when UTSA scored the last seven points of the game for the final margin. Deen, a preseason pick for first-team all conference in the Missouri Valley, scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half.
The diminutive guard from Shreveport, La., had substantial help from his friends as forwards Almar Atlason had 18 points and Darius Hannah contributed 17. Guard Zek Montgomery scored 15.
UTSA was led by guard Primo Spears with 20 points, his second game with 20 or more to start the season. Playing hard to the end, forward Raekwon Horton contributed 15 points, six rebounds and five steals. Guard Marcus Millender had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Roadrunners, who opened with a blowout victory at home over Division III Trinity, had an early five-point lead but couldn’t sustain the momentum. They were held to 34.8 percent shooting from the field for the game and 24 percent from three.
Records
UTSA 1-1
Bradley 2-1
Coming up
Little Rock at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.
First half
Trailing by five with 11 minutes left in the half, the Braves started a run that ended with a 48-30 lead at halftime.
The Roadrunners played well early, getting a few defensive stops and forcing a turnover in an 8-0 run. Capping the streak was Jaquan Scott, who threw down a dunk and then hit two free throws for a 16-11 lead with 11:17 remaining.
From there, the Braves got hot, outscoring the Roadrunners 37-14 the rest of the way.
In the half, Spears led the Roadrunners with nine points and two steals. Horton had seven points and three rebounds. For the Braves, Deen scored 15 points and Hannah and Atlason each added 12 points.
Bradley shot 56.3 percent from the field in the half and drilled eight of 14 from three-point distance. Deen was three of five from behind the arc. Atlason was three for three and Hannah two for two.
The game was played at Bradley’s Carver Arena, in Peoria, Ill. It was UTSA’s second overall game this season under new coach Austin Claunch and the first on the road after opening with a blowout victory over Division III Trinity on Nov. 4.
Notable
UTSA center Mo Njie made his regular-season debut after sitting out the opener with a groin injury. Njie, the Roadrunners’ biggest player at 6-11 and 250 pounds, had eight points and four rebounds in 20 minutes. He hit four of six from the field.
The Roadrunners played their second game without high-scoring guard Tai’Reon Joseph, who hasn’t yet been cleared to suit up. UTSA expects Joseph to be eligible eventually, likely sometime before American Athletic Conference play starts. But the timetable for his return has not been announced.
In addition, 6-9 forward Jonnivius Smith, who had 10 rebounds off the bench against Trinity, also did not play.
Explosive Bradley guard Demarion Burch sat out his second straight game with a foot injury. He is expected to be out another two to three weeks.
Quotable
“Both sides of the ball, we got to be better,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch told broadcaster Andy Everett on the postgame show. “Give Bradley a lot of credit. Obviously they’re a team that’s been together. They were picked to win their league for a reason.
“That’s not an excuse for us to take some of the shots we did. I want our guys to be aggressive, but I’ve got to do a better job of manufacturing more downhill drives and create open shots. We want to shoot threes, but I actually thought we were getting in the paint a good amount and then maybe not playing with enough poise.
“We’re up five in the first half. They go on that run, and we didn’t respond well. Ultimately, it’s hard to come back down 16 against a team like that.”
The Roadrunners missed 19 shots from three-point distance and hit 20 of 23 from the free throw line, an indication that maybe they could have done more damage from closer range. They also collected 10 steals and forced 18 turnovers, another positive sign.
“We just got to guard the ball better,” Claunch said. “We’ve got to take more pride in guarding the ball, and that starts with me. I want to play fast. We will play fast. But we got to get stops. We got to get stops, and that’s the reward. Then you can run.”
Claunch said he was proud of his players’ effort.
“As we build this thing, we’ve got to have attitude and effort all the time,” he said. “I was at least happy with how we finished the game, how we stayed together.
“Listen, this team’s got … we’ve got high hopes. And this one was a good game. It’s a team that’s about our level, in terms of a good Missouri Valley team that’s trying to make the NCAA tournament.
“So for us to see (that) … we’ve got to get better in a lot of things if we’re going to have the successful season we want to have. But it’s got to happen quickly.”