PEORIA, Ill. -- A trio of Bradley men's basketball players were recognized by the Missouri Valley Conference this afternoon with the announcement of the first wave of postseason awards.
Junior forward Marcellus Sommerville (Peoria, Ill./Peoria H.S.), who was the fourth-leading votegetter for Valley Player of the Year, landed on the All-MVC first team for the second consecutive season. Sommerville, who enters this weekend's State Farm MVC Tournament, as the league's third-leading scorer (17.9 ppg) and rebounder (7.4 rpg), is the 11th Bradley player to repeat first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors and the first since Rob Dye in 1999 and 2000. With a year of eligibility remaining, he could join Gene Melchiorre (1949-51), Chet Walker (1960-62), Mitchell Anderson (1980-82) and Hersey Hawkins (1986-88) among the school's three-time, first-team All-MVC selections.
Freshman forward Patrick O'Bryant (Blaine, Minn./Blaine H.S.) landed on both the Valley's five-player All-Newcomer Team and All-Freshman Team. A two-time MVC Newcomer of the Week, O'Bryant currently leads the league in blocked shots (2.8 per game) and is the fourth-leading rebounder (7.2 rpg), first among newcomers. O'Bryant, who also averages 9.8 points per game and is shooting 56.0 percent from the field, has flirted with becoming the first-ever freshman to lead the league in rebounding. He likely will become the second freshman to lead the Valley in blocked shots, after former Creighton star center Benoit Benjamin (92) in 1982-83.
Junior guard Tony Bennett (Chicago, Ill./Westinghouse H.S.), a transfer from Platt (Kan.) Community College, joined O'Bryant on the MVC All-Newcomer Team. Entering the tournament, Bennett is 11th on the Valley scoring chart and second among newcomers by averaging 12.0 points per game. The 6-foot shooting guard also averages 3.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He ranks third overall and tops among the league newcomers in steals.
The 2004-05 season marks just the second time Bradley has placed two players on the Valley's All-Newcomer Team. Deon Jackson and Billy Wright both earned All-Newcomer honors in 1993. O'Bryant joins recenlty graduated Phillip Gilbert as the only Braves to land on both the All-Freshman Team and All-Newcomer squad.
Bradley (13-14, 6-12) will begin the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament by taking on Indiana State (10-19, 5-13) in Friday's 6 p.m. opener at Savvis Center in St. Louis. The winner of Friday's first-round game will face four-time regular-season champion and 25th-ranked Southern Illinois (25-6, 15-3) in the noon quarterfinal game Saturday.
Sommerville will be recognized during the Coach-of-the-Year and Hall of Fame Luncheon Friday morning at 11:30 at the Marriott Pavilion in downtown St. Louis. In addition, former Bradley coach Chuck Orsborn will be inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame during the Friday luncheon.
