Box Score I Box Score (.html) I Box Score (.pdf) I Video Highlights I Photo Gallery

INDIANAPOLIS - Senior John Hart scored a career-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting, but Bradley (3-0) made all the key plays down the stretch as the visiting Braves knocked off IUPUI, 79-72 inside The Jungle on Saturday (Nov. 17) night.

The game featured 11 ties and 11 lead changes before Bradley took the final lead of the night with 2:51 to play on a pair of Dyricus Simms-Edwards free throws. IUPUI (2-2) had built a 50-44 lead with 12:20 to play when Hart caught fire and a 1-3-1 zone defense forced back-to-back Bradley turnovers. Hart hit a three in transition off a feed from Marcellus Barksdale and then stroked a tough 18-foot fadeaway, prompting Bradley to call timeout.

"We liked the momentum there," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "We knew they were going to come back at us. They're a good team, but we made some uncharacteristic mistakes that helped them too."

After the timeout, Bradley scored six straight points to knot the score at 50 all at the 10:03 mark. Bradley continued to carry the momentum and went up five, but it was Greg Rice who pulled the Jags even with a pull-up jumper and transition three off a Hart feed.

When it came winning time, Bradley made the plays to escape victorious.

Will Egolf picked Rice's pocket near midcourt, resulting in an easy Simms-Edwards layup to make it 69-65 with 2:37 to play. IUPUI clawed within three after Mitchell Patton split a pair of free throws, but Bradley responded with another basket to make it a two possession game. Walt Lemon, Jr. missed a contested 14-foot jumper, but Simms-Edwards skied for the rebound and in one motion, fired a one-handed rocket to Jake Eastman under the basket for an easy putback.

IUPUI came up empty at the other end when Donovan Gibbs misfired on a 16 foot jumper and Lemon, Jr. countered with a driving layup with under a minute to play, pushing the lead to seven. The Braves made 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute to keep the Jaguars at bay.

"We'd defend them great and just didn't finish (the possession) with a block out and it'd lead to a layup. That was our night in a nutshell," Howard said. "We're usually good with the basketball, but we made a couple of timely turnovers and it'd lead to quick points, kind of like a pick-six interception. Those really hurt us tonight. Honestly, those are the points we kind of rely on and (Bradley) beat us to them tonight."

IUPUI turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 18 Bradley points while the Braves also leaked out and scored 14 fast break points. The much taller Braves also dominated the paint, outscoring IUPUI 48-20 inside and outrebounding the Jaguars 42-33. Tyshon Pickett had 18 points and 10 boards for Bradley and Lemon, Jr. led the guests with 19 points. Eastman added 17 points and five assists and Jordan Prosser scored 10 off the bench.

The 6-foot-11 Egolf also played a huge role in the win, closing with four points, eight defensive rebounds and five blocked shots in 29 minutes work.

Hart, coming off a three-point effort against Bowling Green, was stellar from the outset, hitting 4-of-6 threes and contributing five boards, four assists and two steals. Both Patton and Rice added 15 apiece with the latter delivering five assists. Senior Sean Esposito closed with nine points and five assists, but struggled from behind the arc, hitting just 1-of-6 attempts. IUPUI opened the game hitting 4-of-4 from deep, but cooled to finish hitting 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) in the loss.

IUPUI rocketed out to an early 16-9 lead after back-to-back threes from Hart and Gibbs, but Bradley responded with a 12-4 run and the game continued to be nip-and-tuck the rest of the night. The Jaguars ultimately took a 34-30 lead to the locker room, capped by Rice's trey with 26 seconds left.

Rice finished 3-of-5 from downtown while Bradley hit just 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) combined from three-point range. Lemon, Jr. made a pair of first half triples and Eastman hit a key three from the corner with 9:02 left to put the Braves in front, 53-52.

The loss dropped IUPUI to 1-2 all-time against Bradley in the first meeting between the two schools in nearly 10 years.

IUPUI will return to action on Monday when the Jaguars take on North Texas in the Charlottesville Consolation Region of the NIT Season Tip-Off. That contest is scheduled to tipoff at 4:30 p.m. inside the John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus and Scott McCauley's call on WNDE.com and IUPUIJags.com will begin at approximately 4:15 p.m..