PEORIA, Ill. -- Luuk van Bree and Darrell Brown combined to score 41 points and Bradley built a 17-point first-half lead and held on to beat I-74 rival Illinois State, 85-68 on Wednesday night.

Bradley now has won back-to-back Missouri Valley games after starting the conference season with five straight losses.

Brown hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the first half to give the Braves a 43-26 advantage at the break. Van Bree hit two 3s in the first three minutes of the second half to push Bradley's lead to 53-31.

Van Bree hit 9 of 13 from the field and finished with 21 points for Bradley (10-10, 2-5). Brown was 5 of 7 from distance and finished with 20 points while Elijah Childs grabbed 11 rebounds.

Milik Yarbrough finished with 25 points for Illinois State (11-9, 4-3). Phil Fayne added 17 points.