Bradley University center Will Egolf apparently does not want his sixth season to end. After scoring a career-best 22 points in the opening-game of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, Egolf turned in a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds Saturday night and buried a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:01 remainining, lifting the Braves (18-16) to a 77-72 win against Tulane University (20-15) in the second round of the CIT at Renaissance Coliseum. Egolf started an 11-0 Bradley run to flip that 6-point deficit by scoring in the paint with 10:18 left. He added another interior bucket for a 62-62 tie and Walt Lemon Jr. ultimately capped the run with a pull-up jumper with 6:02 left for a 67-62 lead. In addition to Egolf’s first double-double since his redshirt sophomore season in 2009-10, the Braves got 17 points from Pickett, 13 points from senior guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards and 12 points from Lemon. Senior forward Kendall Timmons scored a game-high 29 points and reserve Louis Dabney was Tulane’s only other double-digit scorer with 11 points. Junior center Josh Davis ripped down a game-high 17 rebounds for the Green Wave. Bradley will visit Missouri Valley Conference rival Northern Iowa for a third-round game in the CIT Tuesday night, 7 p.m., at the McLeod Center.
-Bob
Illinois Central College (31-4) women’s basketball team lost in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division II national tournament to Louisburg College (31-3)72-68 on Friday night at Lorene M. Ramsey Gymnasium. Olivia Gaines had a game-high 22 points for the Lady Hurricanes. Jazmine Parker and Tiffany Johnson added 15 points apiece to join Gaines in double figures. Demeisha Morris and Chanta Wright joined ShaVonn Watkins in double figures, with all three scoring 17 points for ICC. The loss puts the Cougars in the third-place game against fourth-seeded St. Clair Community College (21-10) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday
-Bob
Top-seeded Mesa Community College knocked off No. 9 and two-time defending champion Monroe College 53-50 in the first of two quarterfinal games Thursday night at the Lorene Ramsey Gymnasium at Illinois Central College. The Lady Thunderbirds (26-6) started out slow and didn’t even take the lead until a 3-pointer by Mariah Willadsen pushed the Thunderbirds ahead 17-16 with 6:40 left in the first half. Mesa led 27-21 at halftime. Nicole Tsosie led Mesa with 16 points. Willadsen and Mariam Ridgwell each added 10 for the Thunderbirds. Ly’Nasha Frazier led the Lady Mustangs with 16 points. “That was a very, very, very, very good team we just played and who are well coached too,” Mesa coach Kori Stephenson said after the game, a 53-50 victory for her team. “The kids just stepped up and took charge.”
-Bob
History proved be the theme as Bradley (17-16) rallied from an 11-point, second-half deficit to earn a 75-69 win against Green Bay (18-16) in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Wednesday night at Renaissance Coliseum. Playing the first postseason tournament game on campus since 1982, Bradley converted 21-of-24 free throw attempts in the second half, part of a 51-point outburst after the break, to rally from a 37-26 deficit with 19:00 left, as well as a 49-39 hole with 12:43 remaining. Bradley point guard Walt Lemon, Jr. scored 21 points, matched a career-high with nine rebounds, dished out seven assists, blocked two shots and made off with two steals, a stat-stuffing performance worthy of joining Braves legend Hersey Hawkins (1987-88) as the only players in Missouri Valley Conference history to achieve 500 points (514), 100 rebounds (134), 100 assists (121) and 70 steals (72) in a single season. In addition, Lemon (72) and Dyricus Simms-Edwards (85) combined for three steals to push their combined season total to 157 thefts, breaking the MVC single-season record for steals by teammates, previously set by Tulsa’s Paul Pressey (96) and Mike Anderson (59), who combined for 155 steals in 1980-81. With nine steals overall, Bradley also set the single-season school record with 308 thefts on the season. Those notes overshadowed the fact that sixth-year senior center Will Egolf scored a career-best 22 points, while senior swingman Jake Eastman ripped down a career-best 13 rebounds. UWGB Phoenix forward Alec Brown scored a game-high 23 points and point guard Keifer Sykes chipped in with 18, while Jordan Fouse grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
-Bob
Chris Hines scored 16 points and Drake defeated Bradley 81-66 Thursday in the opener of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO. The ninth-seeded Bulldogs (15-16) earned a quarterfinal game against the Valley regular-season champion Creighton University on Friday at 12 pm. Joey King scored 15 and Gary Ricks added 14 points for Drake. The Bulldogs led by as many as 17 points in the first half, though the Braves scored the last eight of the half to cut Drake’s lead at the break to 41-32. Jake Eastman had 15 points and eight rebounds for the eighth-seeded Braves. Will Egolf also scored 15 points, Walt Lemon Jr. scored 14 and Tyshon Pickett added 11 for Bradley, which improved nine games from last season’s 7-25 finish.
-Bob
