PEORIA, Ill. -- Former Bradley Basketball star Phillip Gilbert (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis H.S.) has signed a contract to play for Clermont in France's Pro A division during the 2007-08 season. Gilbert, who was in Peoria working the Jim Les Basketball Camp this week, signed with Clermont Monday.
A 6-foot-3 shooting guard, Gilbert was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference performer at Bradley from 2000-04 and he remains eighth in school history with 1,689 career points. The 2007-08 campaign will be his second in Europe after he played the 2005-06 season in the British Basketball League. He began last season in Poland, but returned home and played part of the 2006-07 season for the Peoria Kings during their inaugural campaign in the American Basketball Association.
Gilbert could be one of as many as four former Braves playing professionally in France next season. Two of his Bradley teammates played in France during the 2006-07 season: Marcellus Sommerville with Angers during the second half of the Pro B season and Chalon during the Pro A playoffs and Jerome Robinson with Brest in the Pro B division. In addition, former Bradley big man Aba Koita played for Le Puy in the French N2 division last season.
TIM REGAN WAIVED BY NEW YORK RED BULLS
The New York Red Bulls made several moves to overhaul their defensive look Wednesday and former Bradley All-American Tim Regan was one of the casualties. Regan, who had played just three games this season due to injury, and fellow Red Bulls back Taylor Graham were waived Wednesday, while a third defender, Todd Dunivant, was traded to Toronto FC for defender Kevin Goldthwaite.
Regan was a second-round pick by the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars in 2003 and played his first three MLS seasons in New York. After being waived prior to the start of the 2006 campaign, Regan signed with Chivas USA and was a regular starter in the backline for his new club, but returned to New York prior to the start of the 2007 season. Regan required hip surgery, however, and just recently returned to action, playing all 90 minutes in New York's last game, a 3-3 tie June 16 against Kansas City.
Regan's former Bradley teammate, Bryan Namoff, is expected to start tonight when D.C. United hosts Colorado at RFK Stadium. The 6 p.m. (CT) clash will be televised nationally on ESPN2. A 7-year veteran of the club, Namoff is seventh in United history for both games and minutes played.
Bradley's third active MLS player, Gavin Glinton, was the runner-up to Houston's Brad Davis in this week's voting for the Sierra Mist MLS Goal of the Week. A forward for the Los Angeles Galaxy, Glinton scored his first goal of the season with a diving header to finish off a Cobi Jones cross in Saturday's 3-2 loss to Columbus. The Galaxy will return to action Wednesday by hosting the Chicago Fire in a 9:30 p.m. (CT) match at the Home Depot Center. The game against the Fire will be televised in the Peoria area on Comcast SportsNet.
JUSTIN CARR COLLECTS FIRST TWO PROFESSIONAL HITS
Former Bradley outfielder Justin Carr (Camargo, Ill./Villa Grove H.S.) earned his first career base hits as a professional Wednesday night during a 2-for-4 performance for the Evansville Otters in a 2-1 loss to the Southern Illinois Miners in the independent Frontier League. Carr made his professional debut Tuesday night against the Miners, going 0-for-4 but scoring a run.
In other pro baseball action involving members of the 2007 Bradley Baseball team, Ryan Curry was 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored and a run batted in for the Jamestown Jammers Wednesday night during a 4-2 loss to Williamsport in New York-Penn League action. Michael Christl struggled in his second appearance for the Mesa Cubs in the rookie Arizona League, allowing two runs on a hit and three walks in his two innings of relief against the Padres Wednesday night. Ryan Eigsti was 1-for-5 with a double, a run scored and an RBI for the Idaho Chukars Wednesday night against Casper in the rookie Pioneer League. In his first action in more than a week, Eigsti also threw out the only Casper baserunner that attempted to steal Wednesday night, improving to 3-for-6 throwing out potential base stealers in his two games.
Moving up the pro baseball ladder, right-hander Brandon Magee (2-4, 4.56 ERA) is expected to start for the Single A Dunedin Blue Jays tonight against the Daytona Cubs. Fellow righty Brock Till (2-0, 2.45 ERA) struck out two in two perfect relief innings in Double A Southern League action Wednesday, helping the Chattanooga Lookouts to a 6-3 win against Huntsville.
Pitching in the independent Atlantic League, Evan Fahrner (1-0) earned his first win of the season Sunday by tossing three innings of scoreless relief to close out Bridgeport's 8-7 win against York.
