Hawks not brave enough in first loss
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By Steve Batterson | Sunday, November 25, 2007 |
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — Jeff Peterson struggled to stomach the blow the Bradley basketball team delivered Friday night against Iowa.
“I don’t think we played with the toughness we needed to play with, and that starts with me,” Peterson said after the Braves handed the Hawkeyes a 67-56 reality check in the semifinals of the South Padre Invitational.
“They were a very physical team, but that shouldn’t matter. We didn’t step up and right now, we’re just not a very tough team. We can’t blame that on anyone but ourselves.”
The loss in the first meeting between the teams in 31 years was the first in five games this season for Iowa.
The Hawkeyes struggled to deal with the smooth play of Bradley point guard Daniel Ruffin and had no answer for the second chances Theron Wilson was giving the Braves inside.
Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said he didn’t mind that the setback stung the Hawkeyes a bit.
“If we don’t learn from it, it’s just a loss that hurts. We need to learn from this,” Lickliter said.
Ruffin finished with a career-high 24 points and dished out six of his game-high seven assists in the first half, during which saw Bradley use a 19-2 run to build a lead Iowa couldn’t catch.
A four-year starter who is nation’s active career assists leader, Ruffin blistered the Hawkeyes with a 6-for-10 touch from 3-point range. Iowa pulled within 49-44 with 81/2 minutes remaining but Ruffin quelled that uprising.
Taking a feed from the other senior in the Bradley backcourt, Jeremy Crouch, Ruffin buried an open jumper from the top of the key with 8:22 remaining to help the Braves regain a comfortable lead.
Ruffin also made things as uncomfortable as he could on Peterson, holding him to five points in his first game away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“We just tried to pressure him a bit,” Ruffin said.
Bradley coach Jim Les said he reminded Ruffin how seniors attempted to rattle him when he was a freshman.
“Peterson’s an awfully good player at both ends of the floor, but Daniel loves a challenge. I remember some seniors coming after him when he was a freshman,” Les said.
“I thought Daniel’s play on Peterson, along with Theron’s dunk tips and putbacks really made a difference.”
Wilson grabbed six of his 11 rebounds on the offensive end, including three that led to eight second-half points.
Injured guard Tony Freeman had company on the bench after a concussion sent Cyrus Tate to the sidelines after five minutes of first-half action.
Justin Johnson led Iowa with 16 points, but all but three came during the first half.
“They just played us a little tighter and we didn’t handle it well,” Johnson said. “We expected them to run up and down and play us physical. There was no excuse for the second half. We were just sluggish.”
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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