CHICAGO, Ill. – Chicago native Walt
Lemon, Jr. scored a game-high 22 points, but passed to Jake Eastman for the game-winning basket with nine-tenths of a
second remaining, lifting Bradley (16-13) to a 63-62 win at UIC (15-13)
Saturday afternoon at UIC Pavilion.
Just the fifth meeting in
the all-time series between the in-state rivals, Saturday's game was created
through participation in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters series and gave
The Valley a 5-0 record on the day.
After Bradley opened with
an 8-1 push, UIC went on a 19-3 run and led throughout most of the rest of the game. UIC led 41-35 when Lemon and backcourt mate Dyricus Simms-Edwards took over. The duo combined for 22 straight Bradley
points and a second Simms-Edwards 3-point possession with 2:49 left pulled the
Braves to within 58-57.
From there, Bradley
forward Tyshon Pickett came up with
two big offensive rebounds, converting the first for a 59-58 lead with 2:13
remaining and the second on two free throws for a 61-60 lead with 1:18
remaining.
The teams exchanged
blocked shots before Gary Talton gave the lead back to UIC, 62-61, with 37.5
seconds remaining. Simms-Edwards took
Bradley's first shot of the final possession, but Marc Brown rejected it back
out to the Bradley perimeter, where the Braves regained possession. Lemon's drive with the clock winding
down resulted in a missed shot, but Shayok Shayok dug the loose ball out of
traffic in the lane. Shayok passed to
Lemon, who again drove into the lane, but this time dished to Eastman for the
winning layup.
Lemon ended the game with
22 points, five rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocked shots. Simms-Edwards added 17 points and Pickett finished
with 10 points, sharing game-high rebounding honors with Shayok. Daniel Barnes led UIC with 18 points and
Brown chipped in 13.
By earning its 16th win
of the season, Bradley has secured at least a .500 finish to the season a year
after enduring a 7-25 campaign. The
Braves will host Valley preseason favorite Creighton Wednesday night in the
final regular-season home game in the careers of seniors Eastman, Will Egolf, Milos Knezevic and Simms-Edwards.
Bradley then will visit Missouri State March 2, before heading to St.
Louis for the 2013 MVC Men's Basketball Championship.
