Wichita, Kan.- P.J. Couisnard's team-high 13 points helped fuel a Shocker rally, but it was not enough as Wichita State fell to 8-12 on the season and 1-8 in conference play with a 63-54 loss to Bradley (11-10, 4-5) Saturday night inside Charles Koch Arena.

Senior Phil Thomasson finished with 12 points while Gal Mekel had 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Braves were led by Jeremy Crouch's 16 points while Sam Maniscalco and Andrew Warren each finished in double-figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

An energized Shocker squad hit the floor running and quickly scored the game's first four points on a Mekel layup and two free-throws by Couisnard. That's when the Braves took over offensively, going on a 10-0 run for a 10-4 lead with 15:20 to go in the half.

A Maniscalco three-pointer gave BU a 27-12 lead with 8:32 on the clock. In the first 12 minutes of the game, the Braves shot 68 percent from the floor and 75 percent from behind the arc, hitting 6 of 8 attempts.

BU finished the half on a 7-0 run to lead 42-21 at the intermission. They hit a total of seven three-pointers in the first half and had 13 assists on 16 baskets.

Junior Wendell Preadom led WSU in the first half with nine points in nine minutes coming off of the bench.

“I just wanted to be more aggressive,” Preadom said. “For this whole season, I've felt that I've been letting my team down. I just told myself to be aggressive and look for my shot if I had it.”

After scoring just 21 points in the game's first 20 minutes, the Shockers came out of halftime and put up 11 points in the first three minutes and 21 seconds of the second half. Couisnard led the charge hitting two three-pointers, the second pulled WSU within 16, 48-32, and forced BU head coach Jim Les to use a timeout.

Down by 20 midway through the half the Shockers went on a 12-0 run, capped by a Couisnard three-pointer, forcing Les to call another timeout with 6:29 to play.

WSU couldn't manage to get any closer as the Braves slowed the game to a crawl and drew four fouls on one possession, eating up a minute and 14 seconds of clock.

The Braves didn't hit a field goal in the final 11:21 of the game but salted the game away with free-throws, hitting nine of 11 in the final three minutes for a 63-54 win.

“They shot such a great percentage,” said head coach Gregg Marshall. “There were very few offensive rebound opportunities. They got 26 defensive rebounds which means there was a lot of missed shots by us.”

The Shockers held the Braves to just 33 percent shooting and outscored BU 33-21 in the second half.

WSU will be back in action on Tues., Jan. 29 as the Shockers play host to Missouri State. Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPNU.