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Taylor Brown Tip-In Gives Bradley Buzzer-Beating Win
S??O CARLOS, Brazil -- Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown tipped in Sam Maniscalco's missed runner at the buzzer, leading the Braves (2-0) to an improbable 84-83 victory verus Lupo Araraquara (1-1) Thursday night in the second round of the COPA EPTV Basketball Tournament at Gimn??sio Milton Olaio Filho.
Bradley overcame an 8-point deficit, 80-72, in the final 2:21 to remain unbeaten in the eight-team tournament and improve to 3-0 in its preseason tour of Brazil.
"I am really proud of the resiliency of this team," said Bradley head coach Jim Les. "We had a lot of things not go our way ... shots not going in, calls going against us, but we gutted one out and that is a great trait if we want to be a good basketball team."
Brown gave the Braves a 71-70 lead by converting an old-fashioned 3-point play early in the fourth quarter, but Bradley missed 11 of its next 12 field goal attempts and appeared to be out of gas after a long trip in a foreign country. Senior guard Dodie Dunson ended the cold stretch with a rebound basket of his own miss to pull the Braves within 80-74. Senior guard Chris Roberts came up with a steal on Araraquara's next possession and converted a 3-point play on the resulting transition to make it 80-77.
It appeared the comeback stalled out when Arararquara converted a 3-point play of its own for an 83-77 advantage, but Maniscaclo buried his fifth 3-pointer of the game to again pull within one basket, 83-80. Bradley's ball pressure led to a Dunson steal, and after he was fouled in the scrum for the loose ball, he made both free throws to get the Braves within 83-82. Araraquara then tried to make a long inbounds pass with 24 seconds left, but Brown intercepted the pass in the Bradley backcourt to set up the final possession.
Dunson made Bradley's first attempt at the game-winner and it appeared an Araraquara player was guilty of goaltending for swatting the ball on the way down. His block knocked the ball out of bounds on the far sideline with 5.1 seconds left. Maniscalco took the resulting inbounds pass, drove over a Roberts screen and put up a floater in the lane. The rebound came off on the right side and Brown was able to go high with his left hand for the winning tip at the buzzer.
"Sammy had a good mid-range floater and he took a great shot," said Brown. "The ball just came my way. I put my left hand up as high as I could and I was able to tip it in."
"Sammy made a great play driving the ball to the basket," added Les. "Taylor just has a nose for the ball. It was especially hard to make that tip with his left hand, quickly, and he was able to get it in."
According to the unofficial statistics kept by Bradley Associate Athletic Director Bobby Parker, Maniscalco led the Braves with 22 points, highlighted by his five 3-pointers. Roberts added 17 points; Brown followed with his 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals; and Dunson chipped in with 15 points.
For the first time in Bradley's first three games of its Brazilian tour, the Braves jumped out to a first-quarter lead and used a 7-0 run to build an 18-8 advantage. Bradley was unable to keep up the pace, however, and three 3-pointers to close the period helped Araraquara pull to within 22-18 at the end of the first quarter.
Bradley's first five possessions of second quarter resulted in three turnovers and three missed shots, allowing Araraquara to overtake the Braves and build a 28-22 lead. After some back-and-forth play, Araraquara hit the Braves with a 3-pointer and two free throws to take its biggest lead of the half, 40-29. Maniscalco helped Bradley recover by draining a 3-pointer of his own and the Braves managed to close to within four, 47-43, at the intermission. Although Brown made two free throws with 2.6 seconds left in the half to close the scoring, the Braves made just 6-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe in the second quarter.
Bradley briefly reclaimed the lead, 48-47, by scoring the first five points of the third quarter on an Eddren McCain triple and a Maniscalco runner, but neither team was able to put together a long stretch of consistent play. Although Araraquara eventually built its lead back up to seven points, 57-50, Roberts and Maniscalco hit 3-pointers on either end of a Brown 3-point play as part of a 9-2 burst that got the Braves even, 59-59. The period endes with Araraquara owning a 64-61 lead.
Bradley will face Paulistano (1-1) in the final round of pool play Friday at 6 p.m. (CT). Paulistano finished ninth in the 2008-09 Brazil National League standings and has split its first two games in the tournament, bouncing back from a 58-51 loss Wednesday night against Araraquara with an 8-6 win against Bauru (0-2) Thursday evening. The winner will play in Saturday's championship game against the top finisher in the tournament's second group. Former Bradley and Brazilian National Team star Marcel de Souza is expected to be in attendance for Friday night's game.
Notes: Several of the players have purchased Brazilian National Team and local club team soccer jerseys during the trip and many of them wore the jerseys onto the court for pregame warmups Thursday night ...The shot clocks, which were not operational Wednesday night, were back in working order for Thursday's games and the rims and nets also were replaced Thursday afternoon ... In Wednesday's games, the game clock counted up from zero to 10:00 for each quarter and the scorer's table was responsible for whistling the end of the period ... In Thursday's games, the game clock counted down from 20:00 to 10:00 in the first period of the half, again with the scorer's table signaling the end of the quarter ... S??o Carlos is the hometown of Denver Nuggets star Nene ... Thursday morning, the Braves visited a youth center, similar to a Boys and Girls Club, in a S??o Carlos favella (impoverished neighborhood) ... After first being greeted by the mayor of S??o Carlos, the Braves spent about 30 minutes entertaining the center's students and posing for pictures, then received a tour of the facility.
S??O CARLOS, Brazil -- Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown tipped in Sam Maniscalco's missed runner at the buzzer, leading the Braves (2-0) to an improbable 84-83 victory verus Lupo Araraquara (1-1) Thursday night in the second round of the COPA EPTV Basketball Tournament at Gimn??sio Milton Olaio Filho.
Bradley overcame an 8-point deficit, 80-72, in the final 2:21 to remain unbeaten in the eight-team tournament and improve to 3-0 in its preseason tour of Brazil.
"I am really proud of the resiliency of this team," said Bradley head coach Jim Les. "We had a lot of things not go our way ... shots not going in, calls going against us, but we gutted one out and that is a great trait if we want to be a good basketball team."
Brown gave the Braves a 71-70 lead by converting an old-fashioned 3-point play early in the fourth quarter, but Bradley missed 11 of its next 12 field goal attempts and appeared to be out of gas after a long trip in a foreign country. Senior guard Dodie Dunson ended the cold stretch with a rebound basket of his own miss to pull the Braves within 80-74. Senior guard Chris Roberts came up with a steal on Araraquara's next possession and converted a 3-point play on the resulting transition to make it 80-77.
It appeared the comeback stalled out when Arararquara converted a 3-point play of its own for an 83-77 advantage, but Maniscaclo buried his fifth 3-pointer of the game to again pull within one basket, 83-80. Bradley's ball pressure led to a Dunson steal, and after he was fouled in the scrum for the loose ball, he made both free throws to get the Braves within 83-82. Araraquara then tried to make a long inbounds pass with 24 seconds left, but Brown intercepted the pass in the Bradley backcourt to set up the final possession.
Dunson made Bradley's first attempt at the game-winner and it appeared an Araraquara player was guilty of goaltending for swatting the ball on the way down. His block knocked the ball out of bounds on the far sideline with 5.1 seconds left. Maniscalco took the resulting inbounds pass, drove over a Roberts screen and put up a floater in the lane. The rebound came off on the right side and Brown was able to go high with his left hand for the winning tip at the buzzer.
"Sammy had a good mid-range floater and he took a great shot," said Brown. "The ball just came my way. I put my left hand up as high as I could and I was able to tip it in."
"Sammy made a great play driving the ball to the basket," added Les. "Taylor just has a nose for the ball. It was especially hard to make that tip with his left hand, quickly, and he was able to get it in."
According to the unofficial statistics kept by Bradley Associate Athletic Director Bobby Parker, Maniscalco led the Braves with 22 points, highlighted by his five 3-pointers. Roberts added 17 points; Brown followed with his 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals; and Dunson chipped in with 15 points.
For the first time in Bradley's first three games of its Brazilian tour, the Braves jumped out to a first-quarter lead and used a 7-0 run to build an 18-8 advantage. Bradley was unable to keep up the pace, however, and three 3-pointers to close the period helped Araraquara pull to within 22-18 at the end of the first quarter.
Bradley's first five possessions of second quarter resulted in three turnovers and three missed shots, allowing Araraquara to overtake the Braves and build a 28-22 lead. After some back-and-forth play, Araraquara hit the Braves with a 3-pointer and two free throws to take its biggest lead of the half, 40-29. Maniscalco helped Bradley recover by draining a 3-pointer of his own and the Braves managed to close to within four, 47-43, at the intermission. Although Brown made two free throws with 2.6 seconds left in the half to close the scoring, the Braves made just 6-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe in the second quarter.
Bradley briefly reclaimed the lead, 48-47, by scoring the first five points of the third quarter on an Eddren McCain triple and a Maniscalco runner, but neither team was able to put together a long stretch of consistent play. Although Araraquara eventually built its lead back up to seven points, 57-50, Roberts and Maniscalco hit 3-pointers on either end of a Brown 3-point play as part of a 9-2 burst that got the Braves even, 59-59. The period endes with Araraquara owning a 64-61 lead.
Bradley will face Paulistano (1-1) in the final round of pool play Friday at 6 p.m. (CT). Paulistano finished ninth in the 2008-09 Brazil National League standings and has split its first two games in the tournament, bouncing back from a 58-51 loss Wednesday night against Araraquara with an 8-6 win against Bauru (0-2) Thursday evening. The winner will play in Saturday's championship game against the top finisher in the tournament's second group. Former Bradley and Brazilian National Team star Marcel de Souza is expected to be in attendance for Friday night's game.
Notes: Several of the players have purchased Brazilian National Team and local club team soccer jerseys during the trip and many of them wore the jerseys onto the court for pregame warmups Thursday night ...The shot clocks, which were not operational Wednesday night, were back in working order for Thursday's games and the rims and nets also were replaced Thursday afternoon ... In Wednesday's games, the game clock counted up from zero to 10:00 for each quarter and the scorer's table was responsible for whistling the end of the period ... In Thursday's games, the game clock counted down from 20:00 to 10:00 in the first period of the half, again with the scorer's table signaling the end of the quarter ... S??o Carlos is the hometown of Denver Nuggets star Nene ... Thursday morning, the Braves visited a youth center, similar to a Boys and Girls Club, in a S??o Carlos favella (impoverished neighborhood) ... After first being greeted by the mayor of S??o Carlos, the Braves spent about 30 minutes entertaining the center's students and posing for pictures, then received a tour of the facility.
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