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Jun 30, 2023

'Heat check': How little Duke Deen led Bradley to big win over UNI with outside shooting in MVC opener

PEORIA — Duke Deen passed a heat check to help the Bradley Braves pass a vibe

PEORIA — Duke Deen passed a heat check to help the Bradley Braves pass a vibe check Wednesday in a 68-53 blowout of Northern Iowa before 4,043 at Carver Arena.

The Braves got their crowd revved up with a one-sided second half effort — 39-23 — to win their Missouri Valley Conference opener.

"Duke was great, made big shots, momentum-changing shots," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "He ignited the crowd for us.

"Duke knows he has the green light from me, especially when he gets going. There's heat check shots with me, and I have no problem with him taking heat check shots and he did that and made them."

BU guards Deen and Connor Hickman combined for five 3s and 20 points in the final 20 minutes while center Rienk Mast had a game-high 11 rebounds and added 13 points and shut down UNI star forward Tytan Anderson (2-of-11 shooting, 8 rebounds).

"The expectation was to get a win, it's what I feel I was born to do, help the team win and control the game," Deen said. "When those 3s started going down, I was just out there hoopin' at that point. We're ready to go."

Mast, tired but grinning broadly during the postgame in his second game back from a right knee injury added: "That crowd was amazing, Duke hit a couple 3s and the crowd came in. It was awesome."

BOX SCORE:Northern Iowa vs. Bradley | STANDINGS: Missouri Valley Conference

Deen hit a pullup jumper for 56-46 with 6:47 left. Then he poured in consecutive 3s for a 62-48 lead with 5:01 left.

The Braves put it away when Ville Tahvanainen drained a 3 and Malevy Leons put away a slick layup on the baseline for 67-50 with 3:27 remaining.

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Deen's first 3-pointer in that sequence was from the top of the key, and he ran back down the sideline, eyes locked on the Northern Iowa bench, offering some words, and a benign celebratory hand gesture as he passed by.

"I have a tendency to do that in the heat of the moment, it's nothing against UNI, I promise, I was just excited," Deen said, grinning. "I got some (technicals) last year for doing that. About five of them."

Then came his followup 3, a magnificently unselfish assist from Christian Davis included. Davis had an uncontested path from the right side of the lane to the rim, and he took it, but a step shy of finishing a layup he instead lasered a pass out to the left corner for Deen, who pumped in a 3 and was fouled on the play (he didn't make the and-1).

"I was calling for it, calling for it," Deen said. "I didn't think he (Davis) was going to throw it though. He wasn't looking at me, and I was thinking 'OK, he's gonna finish it, cool.' But then it just fell in my hands and I shot it."

Wardle loved the play, and the player.

"At one point Duke asked for a sub and I said, 'Nope,' " Wardle said. "He was playing at a very high level, and it was good for him to work through that fatigue and get a feel for what Valley play is."

The Braves made 12 3s in the game, shooting 40% from long range. Deen was 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Hickman was 3-of-6.

"Duke is always calling for the ball, that's why I love him he's a vocal guy," Wardle said. "And that was a great pass by Christian. I always say I'd rather kick a one-foot contested two to a wide-open 3-point shooter because we have so many good shooters this year. That was a really unselfish play."

Northern Iowa guard Bowen Born was as advertised, pouring in a game-high 22 points, including three 3s in the first half.

"He was going to go for 30 at the pace he was on," Deen said, shaking his head. "Great player. I put it on myself to answer. This is the first time, the first game I'm tired."

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The two guards, Born and Deen, put on a show that produced a combined 40 points, eight 3-pointers, five assists and one steal.

"I think you saw two really good guards under 6 feet today," Wardle said. "Both can shoot the ball from deep."

The Braves faced Valley rebounding leader Trytan Anderson and held him under his 10.4 average and kept him from a fourth double-double in five games.

Instead, Rienk Mast logged a double-double in just his second game back, grabbing 11 rebounds and producing 13 points in 28 minutes.

He played the game while wearing a brace on his right knee.

"That was a tough game, and I struggled a little bit," Mast said. "But I helped in areas like rebounding. Just getting my conditioning back I'm pushing through it. I take pride in being the best-conditioned guy on the team. Couple games I'll be alright.

"(Anderson) he's tough, he goes up after everything. We had to block him out. And with the knee brace still on I can't jump as high, so I have to be smart."

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The Braves trailed by five in the second half when they built a 9-0 run around Hickman over a span of 2:24 to reach a 44-40 lead. Hickman opened it with a floating jumper at 14:44, then nailed a corner 3 as the shot clock expired for 42-40 at 12:34.

The Braves logged another stop, and then Ville Tahvanainen drove to the rim and got a bounce in on a reverse layup for 44-40 and UNI took a timeout.

Hannah came in off the bench after the break and dunked for 46-40 with 11:06 left as the under-12 media break followed, and the game was on its way to the win column for Bradley.

The Braves settled for a one-point halftime deficit after suffering 10 turnovers, which UNI turned into a 12-4 scoring edge.

"They gave us a run for our money, it was a battle," Mast said. "I think we turned it up in the second half. They shot too many open 3s in that first half and we turned it over too much, especially me."

But in the second half, BU had only four more turnovers, while it forced UNI into nine, and by the time 40 minutes were in the books the Braves finished with a 19-16 edge on points off turnovers.

Bradley's forwards had 12 of those turnovers, including five from Mast and three from Darius Hannah.

"First half was a grind-it-out game and Northern Iowa was playing at their pace and they were physical and executed well," Wardle said. "Offensively, too many turnovers for us.

"But down only one at the half, I thought if we could string maybe three stops together and get some transition we could open the game up and that's what happened."

When they came out for the second half, BU adjusted its lineup, opening with Hannah on the bench and Christian Davis on the floor.

Davis hit a pair of 3s, and had three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 25:31.

"Duke really guarded, he's getting better defensively," Wardle said. "We need that because Born is tough, he makes tough shots, quick release, crafty. We needed to do a better job on him in the game but I felt like we did do a good job on some other guys.

"Rienk is a veteran (who got double-teamed a lot). He wasn't prepared to face those double teams. We had not prepared him for that. I think a lot of teams are going to do that to him because he's a matchup problem with his size and strength and ability to score with either hand."

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Bradley guard Connor Hickman took a hard shot from teammate Darius Hannah on a rebound attempt while defending a drive from UNI's Bowen Born with 6:26 left, and stayed down on the floor, holding his head. He left the game for 1:40, then came back in and played the rest of the way. "He's fine, no problems," coach Brian Wardle said. … Bradley improved to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in the Valley. Northern Iowa is 2-4 (0-1). … The Braves are 6-2 in Missouri Valley Conference home openers under Wardle. The Braves are 1-6 in MVC road openers, with their next shot coming Saturday at Missouri State. … The Braves shot 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and out-rebounded UNI 36-28. ... Bradley honors a member of the military at each of its games. WWII veteran Edwin "Gene" Neeley was waiting at home for a ride to a BU game last week when he unexpectedly passed away. With his family at the wake Wednesday, BU played a tribute to him at its game against Northern Iowa. Every spectator stood and cheered throughout. You can see that presentation, put together by Frank Blain, on pjstar.com in the running details from the halftime entry of our live coverage below.

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. Reach him at 686-3206 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

8:35 p.m.: Bradley point guard Duke Deen hits pull-up jumper for 56-46 at 6:47 left. Then comes back and hits consecutive 3s for 62-48 lead with 5:01 left.

Tahvanainen drains a 3 and Malevy Leons with a slick layup on the baseline for 67-50 with 3:27 left here.

8:20 p.m: The Braves trailed by five when they built an 9-0 run around Connor Hickman over a span of 2:24 to reach a 44-40 lead and the crowd energized.

Hickman opened it with a floating jumpshot at 14:44, then nailed a corner 3 as the shot clock expired for 42-40 at 12:34.

The Braves logged another stop, and then Ville Tahvanainen drove to the rim and got a bounce in on a reverse layup for 44-40 and UNI took a timeout.

Hannah came in off the bench after the break and dunked for 46-40 with 11:06 left as the under-12 media break followed.

8:07 p.m.: UNI forges 38-33 lead with 15:58 left as Bowen Born puts down a pull-up jumper and 42 seconds later sinks a 3. Born has 16.

7:54 p.m.: Bradley head coach Brian Wardle reads the room and opens the second half with Christian Davis in the starting lineup. Darius Hannah (3 first-half turnovers) sits.

7:48 p.m.: Northern Iowa 30, Bradley 29.

UNI went on a 10-1 run over 3:34, capped by a 3 from Landon Wolf for 30-26 with 1:35 left in the first half.

BU guard Duke Deen answered 11 seconds later with a 3 to send the Braves to halftime down 30-29.

UNI shooting 38.7% from the field, 6 of 13 from 3. Bradley shooting 43.5% from the field, 6 of 15 from 3. Five BU players have made 3s.

Big factor is turnovers. Braves had 10 (Darius Hannah 3) off which Panthers scored 12 points.

BU guard Duke Deen with team-best 7 points, 2 assists. Christian Davis off the bench for 6 points, 1 assist, 1 steal. Rienk Mast with 5 boards.

UNI got 11 points from Bowen Born (three 3s) and 8 from Trey Campbell. Tytan Anderson with 7 rebounds.

7:30 p.m.: Bradley and Northern Iowa parked in a 20-20 tie with 6:25 left. BU takes a timeout.

Bradley shooting 4 of 10 from 3-point range, but has 7 turnovers, off which Panthers have 10 points.

7:24 p.m.: Connor Hickman with a corner 3 for 14-14 tie with 9:25 left.

Bradley gets a stop, then comes right back down and feeds Christian Davis for a 3 from the left wing for 17-14,

Timeout UNI.

7:19 p.m.: Braves get a 3 from Christian Davis at 12:52 for the only points among a four-minute segment in which BU was 1 of 5 with two turnovers and UNI was 0 of 8 with one turnover.

Coming off the under-12 media break, Rienk Mast converts an and-1 to give Bradley an 8-7 lead.

7:12 p.m.: Bowen Born sinks a step-back 3 for a 7-2 lead over the Braves as the under 16 media break arrives.

7:01 p.m.: Bradley rolls with guards Duke Deen and Connor Hickman, and three forwards in Rienk Mast, Darius Hannah and Malevy Leons.

UNI: guards Born, Anderson, Campbell, forwards Duax and Betts.