PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley senior guard Jeremy Crouch scored a game-high 20 points and his senior backcourt running mate, Daniel Ruffin, added 16 points and nine assists, leading the host Braves (15-12, 8-7 MVC) to an 87-59 rout of Missouri Valley Conference rival Creighton (17-8, 8-7 MVC) Saturday afternoon in front of 11,335 red-clad fans at Carver Arena.

Bradley led by as many as 38 points with 3:07 remaining in the game and the final 28-point margin of victory for the Braves ended up being the second-largest in favor of  Bradley in the 74-game series history against Creighton.

Bradley opened the game with an 11-0 run and never looked back.  The Bluejays did close to within 11-7 and still were within 24-18 following two free throws by P'Allen Stinnet wtih 7:53 left in the half.  But Bradley closed the half with a 22-8 surge, capped by running 3-point shot by freshman Sam Manicalco at the buzzer to send the Braves into halftime with a 46-26 lead.

The Braves put five players in double-figures for the first time this season.  Maniscalco scored 15 points off the bench, while sophomore guard Andrew Warren added 13 points and junior forward Theron Wilson chipped in with 10.  Stinnett led Creighton with 18 points, junior guard Booker Woodfox added 16 and senior forward Dane Watts turned in a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

The rest of the Creighton team did not provide much support of Watts on the boards, however.  While Bradley finished with a 44-31 rebounding advantage, Creighton pulled down the last nine boards of the game after Bradley had built its rebound advantage to 44-22.

Bradley, which has won seven of its last nine games and five straight at home, hit 8-of-16 3-point shots in the first half and finished 13-for-28 (.482) from behind the arc in the game.  And while Bradley shot 48.2 percent (27-56) overall from the floor, the Braves limited Creighton to just 34.4 percent (21-61) from the field.

Creighton never pulled closer than 20 points in the second half and Bradley stretched its advantage to 38 points, 87-49, by using a 14-0 run coming out of the 8-minute media timeout.

Now tied for fourth in The Valley standings with Creighton, pending the outcome of tonight's Southern Illinois-Wichita State game, the Braves will return to action Tuesday night when they visit #14 Drake in a 7:35 p.m. game at the Knapp Center.  Drake clinched the MVC regular-season title today by coupling a win at UNI with an Indiana State victory against second-place Illinois State.