PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley's All-American candidate, junior forward Marcellus Sommerville (Peoria, Ill./Central H.S.), suffered a concussion on the last play of the first half, but his youthful teammates made up for his absence in the second half as the Braves (7-1) pulled away for a 79-59 victory versus Samford (5-4) Tuesday night at Carver Arena.
Bradley freshman center Patrick O'Bryant (Blaine, Minn./Blaine H.S.) enjoyed a perfect shooting night and recorded his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. O'Bryant was 7-for-7 from the floor, falling one field goal attempt short of tying the Carver Arena record for the most field goals in a game without a miss, and sank all three of his free throw attempts. Junior guard Tony Bennett (Chicago, Ill./Westinghouse H.S.), a first-year transfer from Pratt (Kan.) Community College, added 17 points and freshman guard Jeremy Crouch (Pekin, Ill./Pekin H.S.) added 11 points for the Braves.
Samford also placed three players in double-figures, led by guard Randall Gulina's 17 points. The Bulldogs also got 11 points from Jerry Smith and 10 points from forward Jon Mills.
Samford came into Tuesday's game shooting 44.0 percent from 3-point range and the Bulldogs were averaging just 11.9 turnovers through their first eight games. The Braves, however, used 13 steals to force their visitors into a season-high 18 turnovers. And although Samford did drain nine 3-pointers, the Bulldogs misfired 14 times from behind the arc and finished 9-for-25 (.360) from 3-point land. Bradley took advantage of the turnovers, as well as Samford's perimeter nature, finishing with a 24-14 advantage in points off turnovers, a 35-16 margin in rebounds and a 16-4 edge in second-chance points.
Freshman point guard Daniel Ruffin (Peoria, Ill./Central H.S.) gave the Braves the lead for good, 9-6, when he tossed in a desperation 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 16:18 left in the first half. The fluke basket started a 17-2 Bradley burst that put the Braves in control. Although Samford cut the margin to seven points, 23-16, by answering with a 8-0 run of their own, Bradley countered with another 17-5 surge for a 40-21 lead with 2:34 left in the half.
With Sommerville forced to watch from the bench, Samford made a brief attempt at a rally by triming a 42-28 halftime deficit to 46-36 on a Bryan Boerjan jumper with 16:35 left in the game, but Crouch answered with one of his three 3-pointers on the next Braves possession, which ignited an 11-0 run over then next three minutes. The lead never dipped below 19 points the rest of the way and grew to as much as 26, 72-46, on a Bennett reverse layup with 5:12 remaining.
Sommerville, who entered the game leading the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring at 19.6 points per game and was the league's third-leading rebounder at 7.6 boards per game, finished with six points and four rebounds, marking the first game he did not score in double-figures this season.
The Braves are 7-1 for the first time since national player of the year Hersey Hawkins led Bradley to a similar 7-1 record to begin the 1987-88 season. Bradley will open Valley play by visiting Creighton (8-2) Dec. 28.
