ST. LOUIS (AP) Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points, Tavion Banks added 13 and top-seeded Drake defeated No. 2-seed Bradley 63-48 on Sunday to win Arch Madness for the third consecutive time.
The Bulldogs (30-3) will be making their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth in the past five years. They won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship for the first time since 2019.
A 3-pointer by Demarion Burch gave Bradley a 27-24 lead with four minutes left in the first half but the Braves did not score again until 15:20 remained in the second half. Drake finished the first half with a 7-0 run to lead 31-27 and the Bulldogs added the first six points of the second half.
Drake led 46-41 with seven minutes left in regulation then Bradley went cold again. The Bulldogs went on a 15-2 run capped by a dunk and a 3-pointer by Stirtz.
Bradley (26-8) went nearly 5 1/2 minutes without a made field goal before Darius Hannah scored in the paint to make it 61-47. Hannah’s bucket turned out to be the Braves’ only basket in seven attempts over the final 7:17.
Hannah led Bradley with 19 points that included 7-of-11 shooting. Bradley shot 52% in the first half and 28% in the second, finishing at 42% for the game.
Stirtz made 5 of 7 3-pointers and was 7 for 13 overall for Drake. Banks had a game-high nine rebounds. Drake hit on 46% from the field. — Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
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| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| D. Hannah | 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| D. Deen | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| C. Davis | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Z. Montgomery | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| A. Jonovic | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| D. Burch | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Johnson | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| S. Hennessy | – | – | – | – |
| A. Atlason | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Thomas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C. Hardtke | – | – | – | – |
| G. Biliew | – | – | – | – |
| G. Rugaard | – | – | – | – |
| C. Dillon | – | – | – | – |
| T. van der Knaap | – | – | – | – |
| C. Linke | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 48 | 16 | 13 | 15 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| B. Stirtz | 24 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| C. Manyawu | 9 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| M. Mascari | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| I. Jackson | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| D. Abreu | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| T. Banks | 13 | 9 | 2 | 3 |
| K. Combs | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| I. Howard | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Ferguson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Alia | – | – | – | – |
| E. Shetlar | – | – | – | – |
| J. Matteoni | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 63 | 29 | 11 | 14 |
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