Bradley clinches No. 3 seed in Valley tournament with blowout win over SIU in home finale

PEORIA — The Bradley Braves battered the Southern Illinois Salukis on Wednesday and clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

Bradley beat SIU, 86-67, before 6,168 at Carver Arena to guarantee a top 3 finish in the Valley race in their final regular-season home game of the season.

BU senior Darius Hannah matched his season-high with 22 points in his final home game.

Bradley (21-9, 13-6) is coming off a 48-45 win over rival Illinois State. The Braves are in third place in the Missouri Valley Conference behind Indiana State and Drake. SIU (19-11, 11-8) is now two games back.

The Braves made history in the first meeting between these two teams this season, rallying from a school-record 23 points down to win 70-69 in Carbondale.

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 X.com @icetimecleve.

FINAL: Bradley 86, Southern Illinois 67

Saying goodbye

8:54 p.m.: Malevy Leons and Darius Hannah exit the game with 2:21 left, a final curtain call for the BU seniors.

Leons with a 3

8:45 p.m.: Malevy Leons hits a corner 3, then jogs down to the defensive end and hugs Deen, grinning broadly. Pure joy.

BU lead is 81-52 with 5:09 left.

Braves still in control

8:33 pm.: The Salukis worked Bradley's lead down to 13, but the Braves pushed back again when Darius Hannah jammed with 12:47 left for 57-43 and Deen followed a missed shot by SIU with a step back jumper for 59-43 with 11:41 left.

Then Connor Hickman nailed a 3, SIU turned it over, and Hannah hit a baseline jumper for 66-49 with 9:01 left.

Hannah has a game-high 19 points.

Braves blow it out

8:11 p.m.: The Braves opened the second half with a dunk from Malevy Leons and a 3 from the right wing by Almar Atlason to stretch their lead to 42-29 with 18:36 left.

Then Christian Davis nailed a 3 from the right wing for 45-29 and SIU took a timeout.

Two turnovers by SIU's Xavier Johnson helped Bradley break out that lead.

By the numbers

7:52 p.m.: Darius Hannah leads all scorers with 13 points at the break. The Braves have blown up the boards, building a 24-12 lead there, including 9-0 on the offensive glass.

Connor Hickman with 5 rebounds and 4 steals.

SIU got 8 points from Troy D'Amico.

HALFTIME: Bradley 37, SIU 27

Bradley 36, SIU 25

7:45 p.m.: Darius Hannah opened up a 28-20 Bradley lead on three straight baskets, two layups and a jumper in between in a span of 70 seconds.

The Braves held a 34-23 lead with under four minutes to play, riding a lopsided 22-7 rebounding advantage. That included a 9-0 offensive boards edge.

Hannah turnaround jumper in the paint for 36-25 at 1:43.

Connor Linke from outside

7:26 p.m.: Malevy Leons with a steal and set up of Duke Deen for a jumper and 19-13 lead at 9:41.

Then reserve big man Connor Linke strikes a long jumper for 2 and a 21-18 lead at 8:39.

That's the difference right now for Bradley, which takes a 21-18 lead to the under-8 break.

SIU bench and head coach Bryan Mullins have been loud and animated since the opening tipoff.

Bradley 15, SIU 11

7:18 p.m.: Biliew and Linke played the first 4:18 before settling to the bench in their reserve roles.

By then, Bradley had a 9-3 lead as the media break arrived, netting a pull-up jumper by Duke Deen, a jumper by Hannah, a layup by Leons and then, with 17:07 left, a 3-pointer by Hannah for a 9-0 run.

Connor Hickman's pair of free throws made it 13-3 with 14:49 left, but SIU countered with an 8-2 run to cut BU's lead to 15-11 with 11:41 left.

The situation

7:01 p.m.: The Braves can clinch the No. 3 seed in the Arch Madness tournament with a win over Southern Illinois tonight.

Senior farewell

6:55 p.m.: The Braves staged a farewell to their seniors -- forwards Goanar Biliew, Darius Hannah, Connor Linke and Malevy Leons -- in the pre-game ceremonies, introducing each with their parents while head coach Brian Wardle waited to greet them on the floor.

Starting lineups

6:52 p.m.: The Braves roll out a lineup that includes a nod to their seniors in the regular-season home finale. It includes Goanar Biliew, Connor Linke, Darius Hannah and Malevy Leons, plus Duke Deen.

SIU counters with guards Johnson, Ferguson and Brown, plus forwards Rupert and D'Amico.

More Bradley Braves basketball stories

The MVC race: A look at the Missouri Valley Conference basketball race and Bradley's place in it

'It's incredible': Bradley Braves reward walk-ons with basketball scholarships for rest of season

BU merch: How Obvious Shirts ended up on merch stands at Bradley basketball games

Tiny Toulon to the Bradley hilltop: Remembering all-American basketball player Paul Unruh

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bradley basketball vs. Southern Illinois in Valley game in Peoria