'We got to get better': Bradley loss to Duquesne is a matter of minutes at Paradise Jam

The Bradley men's basketball team lost its finale in the Paradise Jam tournament Monday in a game that came down to a matter of time.

"Most disappointing performance for us in this tournament, by far," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "I told the team we did not compete and play tough for 40 minutes. 

"We probably played about 20 minutes of basketball today the way we want to play. We got to get better. We got to get better."

And that's why the Braves dropped a 78-70 decision to Duquesne in the tournament's seventh-place game at Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they went 0-3 in the four-day tournament.

Terry Roberts had a team-best 17 points with three steals and three assists in 31 minutes Monday, while Ja'Shon Henry had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and freshman guard Connor Hicks had 14 points.

BOX SCORE:Duquesne 78, Bradley 70

"The last 10 minutes of the first half and first 10 minutes of the second half we did not play very well," Wardle said. "We didn't rebound with any urgency, the ball was sticking too much offensively and we didn't shoot with any confidence. 

"It was a 20-minute game by us. You aren't winning at this level with 20 minutes. We have to be a lot better."

Bradley (1-5) shot out to a 10-0 lead in a game that saw both teams twice post 10-point runs. But the Braves faded to 16 down in the second half before Hickman brought them back on a pair of 3s and Roberts blasted down the lane for a jam to pull them within 70-67 with 16.7 seconds left.

Duquesne, led by former Indiana State forward Tre Williams (15 points, 7 rebounds), closed it out with eight free throws in the final seconds.

"The first (tournament) game, I didn't play with a lot of confidence," Hickman said. "So I wanted to make sure I came into these next two games focused on getting stops, doing my role and letting the game come to me. 

"Second half I was thinking, get some stops, get some energy. The ball kind of found me, Mikey (Howell) and Terry (Roberts) were great at creating and getting in the lane and finding me open.

"Coach says shoot when you're open, take what the game gives you. I've been trying to take his advice on that."

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Bradley had a 20-17 lead with 7:37 left in the first half on a layup by Ari Boya. The Braves fell back as they went without a field goal for the next 5:29 until Roberts hit a pull-up jumper to cut a deficit to 29-23.

Duquesne opened a 39-27 lead in the first three minutes of the second half and held a 27-15 lead on the boards after 26 minutes.

Bradley trailed 57-42 with 11:35 left, but Hickman ignited a 10-point run with a pair of 3s. Rienk Mast had a putback jam and Ja'Shon Henry grabbed an offensive rebound and put in a layup to get it down to 57-52 with 9:02 left.

Duquesne opened a 62-53 lead but Hickman again brought Bradley back with a layup and 1 for 62-56 with 5:58 left.

Is the team frustrated?

"I wouldn't say frustrated," Hickman said. "I just want to see us play two halves together, and I'm a part of that. We'll come out in the first 10 minutes guarding and playing hard, then we'll get kind of soft, not have that same attack. 

"We got to put two strong halves together, get back to playing Bradley basketball."

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They said it

• Bradley freshman guard Connor Hickman: "That's been the talk since we got here to this tournament, have some urgency. Don't worry about the record, just play hard and do what we can do. We're not really getting to that."

• Bradley coach Brian Wardle: "I watched how we played and today we didn't listen very well. We didn't execute and we had guys trying to do things they normally don't do. We have to be stars in our role.

"No excuses. We got to get a little mentally tougher and physically tougher at times." 

Bravely Speaking

Bradley slipped to 1-5, it's slowest start since opening 1-5 in 2015-16. ... Duquesne is 2-4. ... It was the first meeting between Bradley and Duquesne since 1963. ... Former Indiana State forward Tre Williams had 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for Duquesne. ... Leon Ayers III had a game-high 23 for Duquesne. ... Bradley out-rebounded Duquesne 21-14 in the second half. ... BU shot 60% from 3 in the second half (6 of 10). ... The Braves shot 42.1% from 3 overall for the game (8 of 19). ... Bradley forward Rienk Mast was 3 of 12 from the field. ... Next up for Bradley is a 2 p.m. game Saturday at Carver Arena against Maine.

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 deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.