'Punched in the mouth': How Bradley Braves men's NIT run ended with loss to Dayton
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PEORIA — The Bradley Braves hoped to launch another National Invitation Tournament run, but they never really got off the ground Wednesday against the Dayton Flyers.
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The Braves were down by as much as 23 points on the way to being battered, 80-66, by No. 2 seed Dayton in a first-round matchup before 2,436 at Carver Arena.
Bradley's season ended at 21-13, while Dayton moved on to a second-round NIT game at UNC-Wilmington.
"Disappointed," Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. "A little embarrassed, too, with that effort and how we played. I knew we might be a little rusty to start because we hadn't played since (March 7), but defensively we were just really, really struggling the whole game.
"Their stars were stars. We, other than (departing senior guard) Alex Huibregtse, I don't know if we had a lot of guys even perform to an average level. It's March. You gotta show up. Everyone's got to play their game. You're not going to beat Dayton if you don't have everyone locked and loaded.
"We dug ourselves a hole again in the first half. Dayton punched us in the mouth and we didn't handle it real well."
Bradley got the game's first two points from Ahmet Jonovic in a paint battle against fellow 7-foot-1 center Amael L'Etang. The Braves held that lead for 70 seconds. They never led again after that, as Dayton took off on a 17-5 run over the next 6:10, hitting a trio of 3-pointers including two from all-A10 Conference guard Javon Bennett.
Bradley shot 2 of 10 during that stretch, missed all five 3-pointers it tried, slipped behind by 10 and spent the rest of the night chasing the Flyers to no avail.
Huibregtse made five 3-pointers and led Bradley with 19 points in his final college game. It was a final curtain call for seniors Jonovic, A.J. Smith and Corey Thomas as well.
All of them will wake up Thursday with no more college basketball games to prepare for.
"I think I'm going to take some time to be grateful for the journey," Huibregtse said. "Grateful for the opportunity to represent Bradley, to play for Coach Wardle, to play with my teammates one more time, just all the years of hard work put in."
Jonovic, who had six points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in his final 24 college minutes, says he plans to play professionally in Europe.
"I'm thankful to Coach for giving me the opportunity here for the last 3½ years," he said. "It was amazing for me. I'm really thankful for the all help from him and the coaching staff and my teammates over the years here. And for the fans supporting us."
This story will be updated with more information and reaction.
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 [email protected]. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: NIT first round: Bradley Braves men's season ends with loss to Dayton Flyers