PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley's frontcourt trio of Marcellus Sommerville (19 points, seven rebounds), Lawrence Wright (12, 9) and Patrick O'Bryant (19, 9) combined for 50 points and 25 rebounds, leading the Braves (8-3, 2-1) to their most-lopsided win versus Creighton (7-4, 1-2) in more than a decade, 86-69, Monday night at Carver Arena.
Bradley ended a nine-game overall losing streak versus the Bluejays, as well as a four-game slide at Carver Arena. Bradley's 86 points were its most in the series since a 101-77 victory March 6, 1988 in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament and the 17-point margin of victory was Bradley's widest victory margin versus the Bluejays since a 70-49 win Feb. 28, 1994 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
In addition to Bradley's frontcourt work, shooting guard Tony Bennett added 15 points and sophomore point guard Daniel Ruffin scored nine points and dished out a career-best 13 assists against only one turnover. Ruffin's only previous double-digit assist game was 10 versus Indiana State Jan. 2, 2004. Anthony Tolliver led the Bluejays with 14 pints and nine rebounds, while Nick Porter chipped in 13 points for Creighton. In possibly his final game of the season, Creighton senior guard Nate Funk shot 2-for-13 from the field, but did go 8-for-8 from the free throw line to finish with 12 points. Funk is scheduled to meet Dr. James Andrews Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala., to evaluate the torn labrum in his left shoulder.
After Johnny Mathies broke an early 2-2 tie with a 3-pointer from the right corner, Bradley used an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. Bennett started the run with a 3-pointer of his own, followed by a pair of Sommerville baskets, an alley-oop layup by Wright and a layin to complete the run with 16:08 left in the half.
O'Bryant eventually gave the Braves their first double-digit lead, 30-19, with a hook shot with 7:49 left in the half, starting a 13-4 outburst that led to a 41-23 lead with 4:40 remaining. Reserve guard Danny Adams matched his career-high with eight of the 13 points, capped by a long 2-pointer.
After taking a 48-31 lead into halftime, Creighton slowly worked its way back into the game and eventually closed a 70-53 deficit with 10:04 left to 70-65 on a Mathies 3-pointer with 7:24 remaining. O'Bryant scored on a dunk on Bradley's next possession, however, to start a 7-0 Bradley run that all but sealed the outcome. Sommerville's 3-pointer with 5:37 left made it 79-65 and the Bluejays got not closer than 12 points the rest of the game.
Bradley held the Bluejays to 35.9 percent shooting from the field and once again dominated the glass, outrebounding Creighton 46-33. The Braves also shot at least 50 percent from the field in both halves, finishing 33-for-62 (.532) overall.
Bradley, which improved to 6-0 at home this season, will hit the road for its next two games, visiting Drake Thursday night and Southern Illinois Sunday afternoon. Thursday's 7:05 p.m. game will be televised in the Peoria area by local NBC affiliate WEEK and Sunday's 2:05 p.m. contest will be Bradley's first-ever appearance on ESPNU.
