Northern Iowa entered their matchup against Bradley looking strong; they were getting healthy at the right time and looked the part in yesterday’s win over Illinois State. While the Panthers were able to hang around for quite some time tonight, Bradley’s interior defense combined with a huge game from Rienk Mast gave Bradley the 72-66 win. The Braves will play the winner of Belmont and Indiana State in the first semi final tomorrow.

In the first half, Northern Iowa was doing just enough to stay in the game. Michael Duax played well and had some nice finishes at the rim, but Rienk Mast’s 20 first half points were massive for the Braves. Bradley was also dominating the glass on both ends. When the Panthers put up a shot, it was very often a one-and-done, but the Braves finished the first half with seven offensive rebounds.

Much of the offensive rebounding was due to the aggressiveness of Mast and Malevy Leons. Leons, the 6’9 forward from the Netherlands, was super impactful on the defensive end as he blocked three shots and altered a few others.

In the second half, it was the Bowen Born show. After a tough first half where the Braves had him in a box, Born decided that he was going to take over. The sophomore finished with 34 points, 27 of which came in the second half. After the Panthers got back into it, the game was back and forth for the final 13 minutes. Both teams tested their depth as Malevy Leons and Michael Duax were in foul trouble down the stretch.

At the end, it was Brian Wardle switching Malevy Leons on to Bowen Born which got Bradley the win. Wardle said [Leons on Born] was a matchup he wanted to get to earlier, but Leons was in foul trouble in the second half. Leons’ length was just too much for Born and made it way tougher for him to get clean looks. Mast finished with 30 for the Braves who are now just two wins away from the NCAA Tournament.