Recap | Bradley locks down a top seed with win over Saluki Basketball

PEORIA, Ill. — Riding a decisive advantage in second-chance points and points off turnovers, Bradley cruised to an 86-67 win over Southern Illinois on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Braves (21-9, 13-7) clinched the No. 3 seed at next week's Arch Madness tournament.

Meanwhile, the Salukis (19-11, 11-8) must win on Sunday versus Northern Iowa to secure the No. 4 seed in St. Louis and avoid a Thursday night play-in game.

Southern surrendered a season-high 16 offensive rebounds on the night, leading to 18 second-chance points for Bradley. The Salukis also committed 14 turnovers that led to 22 Bradley points.

"We didn't play winning basketball," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "The level of execution wasn't there, and that's my fault. Too many turnovers and (giving up) offensive rebounding. They get 40 points on those two things."

Bradley led by 10 at halftime, 37-27, but used a 15-0 run midway through the second half to put the game away. BU shot 61 percent from the field in the second half.

"We weren't able to get consistent stops in the second half," Mullins said. "You can't come back from 10 points down at half if you don't hold a team under 50 percent."

AJ Ferguson led SIU with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Jarrett Hensley (15) and Troy D'Amico (10) also scored in double figures.

SIU's leading scorer this year, Xavier Johnson, was held to nine points. He did not play the final 6:26 of the first half after picking up his third foul.

The stakes are high for Sunday's showdown between the Salukis and Northern Iowa, with the winner claiming the coveted No. 4 seed. (Although Belmont could still finish in a tie with either team, the NET tiebreaker would favor Sunday's winner between SIU and UNI).

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