On Sunday, Feb. 3 the Panthers played host to the Bradley Braves in the McLeod Center. The Panthers came into the game with a 7-4 conference record, while the Braves had a 9-2 conference record that had them at second place in the conference.
The game started out with both teams going back and forth. One team would have a little bit of a run, and the other would quickly respond with a run of their own. This was the trend until the Panthers started to pull ahead later in the first half. The score was 22-21 in favor of the Panthers, when they started to take over. Will Hornseth hit a couple of free throws, Tytan Anderson had two layups, and a couple of threes by Cael Schmitt had them on a 12-0 run. The run helped lead the Panthers to a 34-25 lead going into the halftime break.
The Panthers came out of the break into the second half just as hot as they were to finish off the first. This time they went on a 9-0 run, and extended their lead to 18 points at 43-25. Throughout the rest of the second half the Panthers maintained, and even added on to their lead. The biggest lead the Panthers had was 29 points. With a lead that big, the Panthers were able to coast the rest of the way to victory, winning 83-69.
In one of the best performances by the Panthers so far this season, they had a number of guys making key contributions. Max Weisbrod hit five threes and led the team in scoring with 18 points, Anderson nearly had a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds and Schmitt and Jacob Hutson pitched in 12 points each. Ben Schwieger did a little bit of everything for the team, as he scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists. The team as a whole knocked down eight three point shots.
After securing what was a big conference win, the Panthers are now in sole possession of third place in the conference. They are a game behind Bradley and two games behind Drake.
The Panthers will look to keep the winning going when they travel to Missouri to match up with Missouri State on Wednesday, Feb. 5. After that game they will be back on the home court of the McLeod Center to face off with Illinois State on Saturday, Feb. 8.
