2008 Woodie Awards
Bradley scores big on road
Patrick Swafford
Issue date: 1/26/06 Section: Sports
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Courtney Bradley knocked down a career-high 25 points, part of a 48 percent performance from the floor from JSU, but saw the game slip away in the final minutes as Eastern Kentucky defeated the Gamecocks 86-78 on January 19.
Down 24-18 with just under 10 minutes left in the game, the Gamecocks went on 8-0 run in the next minute to give them a two-point lead.
Eastern Kentucky answered with the amazing shooting performance of senior Matt Witt. The Colonels guard had a game-high 26 points with the help of a 6-for-11 night from long range, allowing them to claim a 45-42 lead at the half.
"We're the leading offensive team in the league, but we're dead last in defense," JSU coach Mike LaPlante said. "Part of that is we make the game a lot of possessions. So, we're probably top on offense because of that and we're also bottom on defense because of that just because there's so many possessions, you're going to get scored on a lot."
JSU battled back to regain the lead by three with 14:13 left to play, but two different runs by EKU sealed JSU's fate. The first, a 10-0 run, turned the Gamecock's three-point lead to a seven-point deficit in less than four minutes.
After Bradley brought JSU back within two at the six-minute mark, the Colonels put the game out of reach with a 12-2 run.
"I though we shot the ball very well, put ourselves in position to win the game," LaPlante said. "It's 68-66 with six to go and we've got the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. Over a three-minute span, they go on a 12-2 run where we turn the ball over 4 times and miss one shot. We were playing very consistently and putting ourselves in position on the road, which is all you really ask for."
Walker Russell dished out a game-high 10 assists, making him the fourth player in JSU history to record 500 assists in a career and moving him to third in the nation in assists per game as the Gamecocks rolled to an 88-65 win over Morehead State on Saturday.
Besides Russell's performance, and another 23 points from Bradley, JSU stopped the Eagles cold with solid defense and gave JSU their most one-sided conference win since joining the Ohio Valley Conference.