HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Bradley (5-0) took its 3-point shooting show on the road and continued its torrid long-range attack, draining 13 first-half 3-pointers en route to a 101-72 victory versus Rutgers (1-3) in the third round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge Friday evening at the new Sears Centre. The Braves advanced to the tournament's championship game and will play either Miami-Ohio or Illinois in Saturday's 7:30 p.m. tournament finale.
Junior guard Jeremy Crouch, who sank all three of his 3-point tries, led five Braves in double-figures with a game-high 19 points, while senior center Zach Andrews provided some interior punch with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Fifth-year senior Danny Adams added 14 points, freshman guard Andrew Warren chipped in with 13 points and senior guard Will Franklin contributed 11 points and nine assists, just missing his second straight double-double. The Braves also welcomed back junior point guard Daniel Ruffin, who had missed the previous three games with a strained hip flexor, but scored six points and dished out five assists in his 19 minutes.
Rutgers was led by guard Marquis Webb's 16 points. Forward Adrian Hill had 10 points and seven rebounds and forward J.R. Inman completed the double-digit scoring with 14 points.
Bradley won its fifth straight game versus the Big East Conference and improved to 8-3 versus the league since it formed in 1979. The Braves also extended their regular-season winning streak to 10 games and three of their last six wins overall have come against the Big East (Pittsburgh in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, DePaul in the 2006-07 season-opener).
After tying the Missouri Valley Conference record with 20 3-pointers in Tuesday's second round game versus Florida A&M, Bradley drained 13-of-17 (.765) attempts from behind the arc in the first half, racing to a 61-27 lead at the break. After exchanging layups to open the game, Franklin gave the Braves the lead for good, 4-2, with a mid-range jumper and continued the 12-2 Bradley burst with consecutive 3-pointers.
The Braves did not let up, however, pushing the lead to 29-8 on an Adams trey with 10:47 left in the half and eventually to 31 points,58-27, on a Warren bucket with 45 seconds left. The lead grew to as many as 39 points, 73-34, early in the second half and the advantage never dipped below 26 the rest of the game.
Bradley went into the Thanksgiving holiday ranked fifth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (.505) and eighth in 3-pointers made (51). The Braves did nothing to hurt those numbers, finishing 14-for-25 (.560) from behind the arc. With 65 3-point baskets just five games into the season, Bradley already has eclipsed its final season totals from the 1991-92 (61) and 1992-93 (64) years.
Looking ahead to Saturday, a potential matchup against Miami-Ohio would be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Illinois holds a 12-2 lead in the all-time series versus Bradley, most recently sweeping a three-year series in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Those three games were the first in the series since Bradley's 105-88 victory Jan. 24, 1974 at Chicago Stadium.
