Braves take 91-46 win
 PEORIA, Ill. – Shooting 54.76% in the game and 61.3% in the second half, Bradley University defeated the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Wednesday evening by a score of 91-46 inside Carver Arena.
Limited to just seven players, the Purple Aces were led by Kenny Strawbridge Jr.’s 13-point game. Marvin Coleman II added 11. Yacine Toumi recorded a game-high nine assists. Six Bradley players reached double figures with Connor Hickman scoring 15 with Rienk Mast recording 14.
Hitting their first three triples of the night, Bradley opened a 9-3 lead. Gage Bobe took a feed from Marvin Coleman II for Evansville’s first 3-pointer. Coleman hit an outside shot of his own as the Aces cut the deficit to 11-8 before the Braves took their first double figure lead at 22-11 at the 11-minute mark.
Yacine Toumi scored the ensuing basket to make it a 9-point game before the Braves embarked on a 10-2 run to go up 32-15. Continuing a 7-for-8 start from 3-point range, Bradley extended its lead with 8:45 left in the half. With just over a minute to go in the opening period, BU took its largest lead at 46-27 before UE closed to make it a 46-30 contest at the break. Evansville had a solid shooting half, finishing at 48.0%. The point differential came from the outside shooting of the Braves, who were 9-of-16. UE hit four of its 11 outside tries.
After doing most of their scoring from outside in the first 20 minutes, Bradley got their inside game going to start the second half. Knocking down six of their first nine tries, the Braves made it a 60-31 game. Evansville missed its first six attempts while turning it over five times. Kenny Strawbridge Jr. hit the first UE field goal of the period with 13 minutes remaining.
Things continued to go the Braves’ way as the game rounded the homestretch. Evansville made just one of its first 18 field goals of the half as the Braves outscored UE 41-5 in the first 16 minutes. Evansville connected on three late field goals to cut into the deficit to make it a 91-46 final.
UE shot 34.8% for the game while being outrebounded by a 40-25 margin. The Aces will be back home on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game against Valparaiso at the Ford Center.
