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Lead fizzles in season opener

FLAMES' TOUGHNESS QUESTIONED IN LOSS

November 15, 2008

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UIC coach Jimmy Collins smiled only for a brief moment during the postgame press conference on Friday night.

PEORIA—Bradley’s best offense came when it was stationery, taking uncontested set shots 15 feet away from the basket.

The Braves attempted 47 free throws, converting 33 of them—almost half of their output in a foul-plagued 67-61 victory over UIC at Carver Arena on Friday.

Dodie Dunson scored 21 points, including 10 free throws, to lead four Braves in double figures.

Sophomore Robo Kreps netted a career-best 24 points to lead UIC, while Scott VanderMeer added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Josh Mayo added 13 points and five assists.

It wasn’t the prettiest of season openers for the visiting Flames.

“They come out and drive us to death and go the line 47 times,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. “You don’t blame that on the officiating, you blame that on the lack of defense and mental toughness and that’s what happened with us. They just drove and we didn’t stop them.”

Despite the gloomy ending, the Flames actually led 28-20 at halftime after holding an advantage of 12 points. Bradley shot just 3-for-17 (18 percent) and owned no points in the paint in the first half. It was a 12-for-17 effort from the line that helped keep the Braves close.

Spencer Stewart and Tori Boyd picked up two quick fouls apiece and viewed most of the first half from the bench. Bradley reached the 1-and-1 bonus less than six minutes into the game.

Despite that, Kreps and Mayo helped the Flames offensively, piling up 11 and seven points, respectively in building a halftime lead. Though, the margin could have been even bigger if it weren’t for the Braves holding UIC to 30 percent shooting in the opening period.

“I thought our defensive effort kept us in the game,” Bradley coach Jim Les said. “We had missed some easy opportunities offense, but our identity is at the defensive end of the floor. That kept the game in reach until we could get going offensively.”

And get going, they did.

Theron Wilson kick-started a Bradley rally with a dunk, leading to a 9-2 spurt that closed the gap to 30-29.

“We started the second half with a stop and a dunk,” Les said. “That set the tone.”

Sam Singh hit two free throws to put Bradley ahead 37-36. Moments later, Kreps hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 39-39, but that was it for the Flames as far as sniffing the lead.

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Dodie Dunson was the biggest offensive threat for Bradley, scoring 21 points.

Chris Roberts slammed a rebound dunk to give the Braves a 46-41 lead as the 10,000-plus fans in the arena erupted.

“I was told to go the boards aggressively,” said Roberts, who finished with 12 points. “Just keep going hard every time, even if you’re getting bumped.”

Bradley extended its lead to 52-42 after Wilson’s three-point play with 6:30 to play, but the Flames closed the gap to 52-50 on Mayo’s floater with 4:24 remaining.

Dunson then put the game away with seven straight points in a 9-0 burst that put the Braves up 11 with just over a minute to play.

Collins said the game exposed some weaknesses in the Flames.

“The obvious thing is, we’ve got a ways to go,” Collins said. “We’ve got some talent on the team, but Bradley exposed some things that you’ve got to have to win. They exposed our lack of toughness, not only physically, but they also exposed our lack of mental toughness.”

Despite playing most of the game without two starters, Stewart and Boyd, because of foul difficulty and racking up 32 personal fouls, Collins didn’t claim a moral victory for staying close.

“I didn’t come here to hang in there. I came here to win,” Collins said. “I think that we had a mental letdown. We’ve got some guys who are pretty good, but they want to be stroked all the time. I’m not in the stroking business. I’m getting a little too old to do that.”

UNPLUGGED: After scoring 34 points against Bradley at the UIC Pavilion last year, Mayo had just 13 points on 5-for-14 from the field. The senior guard had to do a lot of the work on getting open by himself.

“We knew we couldn’t shut him out, but we needed to make him work to have to take tough shots,” Les said.

Part of the credit went to Dunson, who the Braves believe is their defensive stopper, but Collins had a different perspective.

“You have a guy who people think is going to be conference player of the year and you won’t throw him the ball,” Collins said. “We were more effective in stopping Josh than Dunson was. We didn’t pick for him. Some of our big guys weren’t picking, they were posting up more.”

GROWING PAINS: The four newcomers that played—junior forward Rob Eppinger, junior guards Kris Harris and Chris Buchanan and freshman guard Zavion Neely—combined for just five points and five rebounds in 40 minutes of action. The quartet was also whistled for eight fouls and committed six turnovers.

FLAMES FLICKERS: Freshman swingman DeMarkus Isom-Jones and sophomore guard Austin Hood did not dress for the game, but were on the bench. One or both could be redshirt candidates depending on developments. …

Boyd and Stewart, who both fouled out, combined for just 25 minutes. The duo totaled just two points on 1-for-5 from the field, two rebounds, one assist and three turnovers. …

For the record, the Flames’ team mark for personal fouls is 42, coming against Samford on Nov. 28, 1981. …

Kreps’ 24 points bettered his old career mark, which he accomplished twice last season—against DePaul and Akron. …

Bradley outrebounded the Flames 25-16 in the second half and outscored them 47-33. …

Bradley now leads the all-time series 3-1.

In other recent news:
The kids can play too (Aurora exhibition) (11/12/08)
Flames set for exhibition play (plus Mayo, Coomes, TV, alums) (11/11/08)
Mayo Horizon Preseason Player of the Year (plus predictions) (10/9/08)
Powerful foes await Flames (schedule notes) (9/18/08)
Flames snag 2 new players (9/17/08)
Anderson joins Flames as walk-on (8/28/08)
Collins hitches trailer to VanderMeer (8/26/08)
Collins granted 3-year extension (7/2/08)