PEORIA, Ill. -- Junior forward Marcellus Sommerville led four Bradley players in double-figures with 18 points and freshman center Patrick O'Bryant earned his second double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Braves (4-1) to a 63-53 home victory versus cold-shooting DePaul (3-2) in front of 9,654 fans Saturday night at Carver Arena.
Quemont Greer led the Blue Demons with 22 points and eight rebounds and LeVar Seals chipped in with 10 points and seven boards for DePaul. Bradley also got double-digit scoring from junior guard Tony Bennett and freshman guard Jeremy Crouch, who scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
While Greer knoced down 7-of-11 field goal attempts, the rest of the Blue Demons combined to make only 11-of-51 (.216) shots from the field. Highlighted by a 2-for-18 effort from Drake Diener, DePaul finished the game shooting just 29.0 percent (18-62) from the floor. Conversely, Bradley started out hot in the first half by shooting 56.5 percent (13-23) in the first 20 minutes.
Seals scored the first basket of the game on a 15-foot fadeaway and Greer gave the Blue Demons a 4-2 lead on a layup with 17:44 left. Bradley freshman guard Daniel Ruffin drained a 3-pointer on Bradley's next possession, however, and the Braves did not surrender the lead the rest of the way. Crouch scored eight consecutive points for the Braves to lanuch a 23-9 Bradley run that gave the host Braves a 30-13 lead with 6:24 remaining.
Unlike last year's 77-74 loss in Chicago, though, history did not repeat itself. After watching a 20-point second-half lead dwindle away in last year's meeting at Allstate Arena, Bradley withstood DePaul's charge Saturday night and eventually pulled away by closing the game with a 12-5 scoring burst.
DePaul closed to within three points with 17:23 remaining in the game, 35-32, and again with 6:02 left after Greer sank two free throws to pull the Blue Demons within 51-48. With Bradley stuck on 51 points since the 8:09 mark, Sommerville finally got the offense back on track by sinking two free throws with 4:18 remaining, then following with a turnaround jumper with 3:43 left for a 55-48 lead. The rest of Bradley's points came from the free throw line. The Braves sank eight of their final 10 free throw attempts in the final 2:21 after missing six of their first 10 attempts in the game.
With the win, Bradley improved to 3-0 at home all time versus Conference USA. The Braves also extended their home winning streak versus DePaul to three games. The Blue Demons last visited Carver Arena on Dec. 6, 1994, the year before the formation of Conference USA.
The Braves will return to action Tuesday night by hosting Butler in a 7:05 p.m. contest at Carver Arena.
