As trophies go, this one will stand out in the Renaissance Coliseum trophy case.

The Bradley men's basketball team clinched the Surf Division Championship of the SoCal Challenge with a 63-59 victory over UTEP on Wednesday night.

Their reward? A boogie board-turned trophy, hued in the colors of a California beach scene. And the Braves rode the proverbial wave as several players pantomimed paddling out or hanging ten during the postgame celebration at center court.

BOX SCORE: Bradley 63, UTEP 59

“That was a fun basketball game,” Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. “Our group is showing some maturity, and I think they’ve really grown close over the last 3-4 days out here.”

Bradey grabs momentum to end the half

It was not, however, fun in the traditional sense. Under Wardle, the Braves have made their bones as marksmen, never shooting below 33% from beyond the arc in any of the five winning seasons the Braves have posted under his direction. This year’s squad was no different through four games; BU came in averaging 10 made 3-pointers on 26.5 attempts per game.

So a night where the Braves (5-0) went just 3-of-15 from distance did not portend well.

“They did a great job of running us off the 3-point line,” Wardle said. “They had some possessions where they had multiple, what we call great efforts, just scrambling and recovering.”

In the first half, the Braves combated that with fluid ball movement and crisp cutting.

“We were just trying not to force it,” said Bradley junior guard Connor Hickman, who led the Braves with a game-high 16 points, including a pair of first-half treys. “I just had to stay calm when they double-teamed.”

The first half ended in spectacular fashion for the Braves. First, with 13 seconds left in the half, tournament MVP Malevy Leons hammered home two of his 13 points off an alley-oop from senior guard Duke Deen, who had stolen the ball and jetted down the left wing before spotting Leons knifing toward the bucket.

Just eight seconds later, junior forward Christian Davis forced another UTEP turnover and the half ended on a thunderous dunk by Darius Hannah, who just missed a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds, to push the Braves’ lead to 37-26 at the break.

“It’s always good to have momentum going into halftime,” Wardle said.

Bradley landed the final blow

But the momentum did not last. Drawing on its identity as an athletic and long defensive-minded team, UTEP (5-1) got 10 straight stops against the Braves to open the second half. The Braves opened the half 0-for-7 from the field and with four turnovers. They did not score after halftime until sophomore center Ahmet Jonovic dropped in an up-and-under layup at the 15:00 mark.

UTEP, however, also struggled against the Braves defense. Each time the Miners charged, the Braves had an answer in the form of a bucket or a defensive stop. Only three times in the second half did the Braves allow the Miners within a single possession, but two of those instances came inside the final minute.

UTEP’s leading scorer, Tae Hardy, hit the second of back-to-back 3s to cut UTEP's deficit to 57-54 with 1:31 left. But Hickman dropped in the last of his points with a pair of free throws with 36 seconds remaining, and Davis closed it out by knocking down four free throws in the final 15 seconds.

“Coach wrote it on the board before the game, if you’re not scoring you have to defend,” Hickman said.

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Bradley closed UTEP out with defense

But Wardle also took some coaching from his players, who urged him to switch to a 1-2-2 zone defense at times with the gangly Leons at the top, arms and legs akimbo in the passing lanes.

“Our guys wanted to go to (the zone),” Wardle said. “It’s important that we listen to our veterans like that, because they’re the ones in the game and seeing what’s working.”

The Braves' defensive intensity harassed Hardy, the Miners’ leading scorer at 17 points per game coming into the title game, into a streaky performance. Bradley held Hardy scoreless for the first 18 minutes of the game, and the 6-foot-3 guard did not break into double digits until less than five minutes remained in the game. He finished with 15 thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers with under two minutes to go. As a team, the Miners shot 37% from the field, including 4-for-17 on 3-point attempts.

“I was proud of the way we buckled down and defended,” Wardle said. “That’s how you win tournament games on a short turn-around.”

In Leons' and Hickman's first two years as teammates, their squads went 1-6 in destination tournaments or Multiple Team Events (MTEs). Now they are bringing home a title and a trophy/conversation piece.

“It’s special to see how much we’ve grown over the last three years,” Leons said.

Hickman agreed.

“This time around, we’re much closer as a team and we’re very connected as a team,” Hickman said. “We’re having good huddles and good communication.”

After video and a walkthrough on Thursday and a practice on Friday, Bradley will host Vermont at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Carver Arena. The Catamounts are 5-1 and are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance.

“Vermont is really good, really scary,” Wardle said. “We just keep lining up the good teams.

“We’ll need all the support of our Bradley faithful on Saturday night.”

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: SoCal Challenge championship: Bradley Braves basketball beats UTEP