Nov. 15, 2009
Final Stats
Complete Stat Packet: Bradley 74, Idaho State 69 
Peoria, IL --- Sam Maniscalco came off a screen and drilled a three-pointer late in the shot clock with 1:14 to go to give Bradley a five-point lead, and that was just enough as the Bradley Braves, owners of 10 postseason wins over the last four years, barely nipped Idaho State 74-69 in front of 9,019 fans at Carver Arena.
The Bengals had taken their last lead at 63-62 when Broderick Gilchrest hit a jumper in the lane with 2:55 left, but Bradley answered with two free throws just 19 seconds later to take the lead for good at 64-63. The Braves then got a three-point play from Chris Roberts to make it 67-63 but Gilchrest answered with a layup with 1:41 left to cut it to 67-65.
After a timeout, Maniscalco came off a screen and drilled a three-pointer, the last of their 11, that pretty much put the game away at 70-65 with 1:14 left. Amorrow Morgan cut it to three with 52 seconds left, but Bradley hit three of four free throws in the final 26 seconds, and Gilchrest got ISU one last basket with 8.4 left.
The three pointers really hurt ISU, as Bradley, who have hit at least 300 as a team in each of the last two years, the only Missouri Valley Conference team to do so, hit 11, including four off the bench by Dodie Dunson, who didn't hit a basket against Brigham Young in Bradley's opening loss, but hit 4-of-6 threes against ISU as he tied for the team lead with 16 points.
Joe O'Brien expressed after the game that the three-point issue was a major factor. "We've got make a couple of more, and we have to cut out some of theirs," he said, as ISU hit only two on the day. "I'm going to take some of the blame for that though, we probably stayed in a zone probably a couple of possessions too long, but I'm a little hard-headed."
Still O'Brien was pleased with the effort that saw ISU leading late in front of a big crowd on the road as ISU shot well at .469 from the field, outrebounded Bradley by 10 36-26, and committed just 11 turnovers.
"There's a lot of good things that I laid out for the guys in the locker room, and considering the environment and everything we improved on from the last game, I think we are making progress," he said. "We came out tonight and played the way you have to on the road, and made them have to play comeback basketball. We established that we were going to come out and play with Bradley and we did."
The Bengals were led again by Gilchrest, who had 19 points, and Amorrow Morgan, who added 18. Demetrius Monroe made his first start of the season and had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. For the Braves, Dunson and Andrew Warren each had 16, Maniscalco had 13, and Chris Roberts and Dyricus Simms-Edwards each had 12.
Idaho State will conclude their three-game road trip to open the season with a Tuesday night game at Brigham Young at 7:35 pm, who ironically opened their season by beating Bradley 0-60 at the Marriott Center.
Notes: Former Bengal guard Alvin Brooks III is an assistant coach at Bradley ... Austin Kilpatrick and Amorrow Morgan were both 1-for-5 from three-point range ... Sherrod Baldwin was the only Bengal not the score that played.
