PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley received career-best performances from senior center Zach Andrews and Jeremy Crouch and senior guard Will Franklin once again played well in place of injured point guard Daniel Ruffin as the trio combined for 71 points in Bradley's 81-72 victory against Illinois-Chicago (1-2) in the first round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge Sunday afternoon at Carver Arena.

For the second time in three games, Crouch posted a career-best scoring effort with 29 points and the 6-foot-5 guard added a career-best six rebounds and tied his career best with five assists.  The 6-foot-8 Andrews poured in a career-best 26 points and equalled his career-high with 15 rebounds for his second double-double of the year and third double-digit rebounding effort in as many games.  Overshadowed by the play of Andrews and Crouch, Franklin added 16 points, seven assists and three steals.

Illinois-Chicago was paced by point guard Josh Mayo's 16 points, while reserve guard T.J. Gray added 14 points, including 12 on four deep 3-pointers.  The Flames also received 11 points off the bench from Karl White and forward Kevin Bond completed the double-digit scoring with 10 points, while Othyus Jeffers just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Bradley cranked up its defense in the second half to pull away from a 37-37 halftime score for its 20th consecutive non-conference home win and eighth consecutive regular-season victory.  The Braves limited Illinois-Chicago to 9-for-32 (.281) shooting from the floor after the break.  After shooting 53.6 percent (15-28) in the first half, Bradley only cooled slightly after the break by making 14-of-29 (.483) attemtps in the second half.  More notably, Bradley made 8-of-14 (.571) 3-point tries in the second half and finished 12-of-24 overall from behind the arc.

Franklin gave the Braves the ahead for good, 51-49, on a 3-pointer from the right wing with 14:28 left in the game and Crouch gave the Braves separation by draining treys in a span of 23 seconds that turned a 56-53 lead into a 62-53 bulge with 9:28 left.  The Flames did not pull within six points the rest of the way and freshman Andrew Warren pushed the advantage to double-digits, 76-66, on two free throws with 3:38 remaining.

While Bradley played without junior point guard Daniel Ruffin, a preseason candidate for the Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford, for the second straight game, Illinois-Chicago was without senior forward Daniel Zorich.  Flames head coach Jimmy Collins announced in a pregame news release that Zorich, a 6-foot-9 forward from Serbia, has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.

Bradley resumes play in the Chicago Invitational Challenge Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. by hosting Florida A&M in a 7:05 p.m. contest at Carver Arena.  The tournament will move to a neutral-site, the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, next weekend.  Bradley will face Rutgers in the 5 p.m. matchup Friday night and the Braves will face either Miami-Ohio or Illinois in Saturday's final round.  Off to its first 3-0 start since the 1998-99 season, Bradley will try for its first 4-0 start since the record-setting 1985-86 campaign Tuesday against the Rattlers.