Coming into the final day of the regular season for the Missouri Valley Conference, nine seeds hadn’t been clinched for the conference tournament. Only two seeds before Sunday were locked in for this year’s Arch Madness. Those were the first seed, which belonged to the Belmont Bruins, and the ninth seed, which belonged to the Drake Bulldogs.

The Murray State men’s basketball team had a chance to clinch the second seed and the season sweep of the Bradley Braves on March 1.

The first half was very similar for both teams. Both teams attempted just under 30 shots; they both only had one player with double-digit points, and neither team could extend any lead. The largest lead of the half was a 7-point Murray State lead with 9:15 left before halftime.

The Racers and the Braves fought all the way till the halftime buzzer, but it was advantage Bradley going into the break. The Braves hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining to take a 36-35 lead into halftime.

Bradley maintained the lead during the second half, but just couldn’t seem to pull away from the Racers, who kept fighting back within a few points. With 4:25 left in the game, senior guard Javon Jackson nailed a 3-point shot to cut the Bradley lead to three. Murray State wasn’t able to get any closer.

Murray State lost to the Bradley Braves 87-78 and will be the fourth seed in the MVC championship tournament. That means they are one of five teams to earn a bye to the second round, and they will play fifth-seeded Illinois Chicago at 2:30 on Friday, March 6, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The Murray State News will have a full Arch Madness preview coming out in the latest print edition, which will be available on March 5. The story will also be posted on our website at www.thenews.org.