April 2, 2008

PEORIA, Ill. -- Despite 19 points -- including 4-of-7 3-pointers -- from junior forward Ray Reese, Tulsa dropped an 83-74 decision Wednesday night to Bradley to even the championship series of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.

Bradley's Jeremy Crouch hit five 3-pointers and finished 7-for-13 from the field for 20 points. Andrew Warren added 17 points, including four 3-pointers, Theron Wilson had 13 points and Daniel Ruffen chipped in 12 points for Bradley (21-16).

Tulsa (24-14) won Game 1 of the series 73-68 on Monday. Game 3 of the best-of-three series will be Friday night at Tulsa.

The Braves' defense forced several miscues from the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday. Bradley scored 16 points off Tulsa's 12 turnovers. Bradley turned the ball over seven times for three points.

The Braves led by as many as 18 points with 12:33 remaining before Tulsa tightened the game in the final three minutes.

The Braves controlled the first half and led the Golden Hurricane 48-34 at halftime.

Crouch, a senior guard known mainly as a 3-point specialist, had the night's best play. With seconds left in the first half, Crouch missed a free throw, grabbed his own rebound directly under the basket and flipped a no-look, behind-the-back pass to teammate David Collins for an easy lay-up.

Senior Brett McDade added 12 points for Tulsa and sophomore Jerome Jordan scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.