PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley junior point guard Daniel Ruffin (Peoria, Ill./Central H.S.) put up a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists and senior center Zach Andrews (Rancho Cordova, Calif./Cordova H.S.) added a double-double of his own with 18 points and 10 rebounds, leading the host Braves (17-10, 8-7) to 100-85 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball victory against Drake (13-13, 4-11) Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena.
Playing in front of an Alumni Weekend crowd of 10,707, Bradley's 100 points were the most the Braves have scored in a Valley game since a 113-102 victory Feb. 29, 1988 at Southern Illinois and the most Drake had allowed in a league game since a 102-79 home loss to UNI Feb. 12, 1994.
Bradley put five players in double-figures offensively as senior guard Will Franklin added 17 points, while senior guard J.J. Tauai and junior guard Jeremy Crouch both chipped in with 12. Ajay Calvin led four Bulldogs in double-figures with 19 points. Josh Young added 14, Leonard Houston scored 12 off the bench and Al Steward finished with 10.
Bradley got off to a fast start Saturday, racing to a 31-10 lead when Tauai completed a 3-point play 9:59 into the game. One of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country, five different Braves combined for six 3-pointers during the opening salvo. The tide quickly turned, however, and Drake outscored Bradley 28-13 the rest of the half to pull within 44-38 at the break. Despite the hot start by the Braves, Drake actually outshot Bradley in the first half, making 14-of-27 (.519) field goal attempts, compared to 16-of-34 (.471) by the Braves.
Drake continued its comeback to start the second half and pulled to within 44-43 on a Young 3-point play and a Calvin 15-foot jumper to start the period. Back-to-back baskets by Franklin halted the comeback, and after Aliou Kieta split a pair of free throws, Crouch and Ruffin drained consecutive 3-pointers to push Bradley's lead back to double-digits, 54-44, with 17:12 left.
From that point, the teams began to exchange baskets, but the exchange benefitted Bradley as the Braves kept scoring in 3-point increments. Ruffin hit a 3-pointer with 15:58 left, Tauai converted another old-fashioned 3-point play with 15:14 remaining, Andrews converted another 3-point play with 14:29 to go, Crouch drained a trey with 13:15 left and Ruffin hit one more trey with 11:02 remaining for a 73-58 Bradley lead. Drake got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Facing The Valley's most generous 3-point defense, Bradley drained 14 of their 26 (.538) 3-point field goal attempts. Ruffin equalled a career-high by making 5-of-6 attempts and became the fourth Brave to sink at least 50 treys this season -- Franklin (75), Crouch (58), Danny Adams (51) and Ruffin (51). The backcourt combo of Ruffin and Franklin combined for 36 points, 17 assists and only three turnovers against Drake's fullcourt pressure defense.
The Braves will return to the road for two games this week for a pair of televised games. Wednesday's 7:05 p.m. Valley game at Evansville will be broadcast locally by WEEK (Peoria NBC 25) and next Saturday's 7:05 p.m. contest at VCU in the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters will be broadcast on ESPN2. The Braves then will close the regular-season with a pair of home games, Feb. 20 against UNI and Feb. 24 against Indiana State.
