By Staff
Bradley University withstood a fierce rally by Central Michigan University Wednesday night to claim 71-65 men's basketball win in Mt. Pleasant.
The Chippewas trailed by as many as 15 points, 51-36 with 12:50 left in the second half, only to battle back to a 61-61 tie with 2:47 to play on a 3-pointer by Brandon Voorhees.
However, the Braves took control when Marcellus Sommerville split a pair of free throws with 2:22 to go for a 62-61 lead. Sommerville then drilled a 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining that made it 67-63.
Bradley upped its record to 5-1 for the season while CMU fell to 1-4.
The Chippewas return to action on Saturday at No. 23-ranked Notre Dame. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m.
CMU also fell behind in the first half by a 26-13 margin with 6:52 to go only to rally and whittle the deficit to five at the half, 33-28. The Chippewas went from the 15:57 mark to 1:25 without scoring a basket. However, they did convert 12-of-17 free throws over that span.
Bradley was led by a pair of 20-point scorers in Phillip Gilbert and Sommerville while Jason Faulkner came off the bench to post a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Chippewas had four players in twin figures led by senior center and Niles High School graduate Gerrit Brigitha with 15. Brigitha also pulled down eight rebounds. Freshman guard David Hoskins came off the bench to add a career-high 13 while guards T.J. Meerman and Kevin Nelson added 12 apiece.
Bradley hit 22-of-52 from the field for 42.3 percent compared to CMU's 22-of-50 for 44 percent. The big difference was at the foul line were the Braves nailed 21-of-30 and the Chippewas meshed just 16-of-23.
Bradley held a 35-33 edge in rebounding. CMU was led by Voorhees with nine and Brigitha with eight.
Bradley……………….71
Central Michigan….65
Bradley: Marcellus Sommerville 7 3-6 20, Brandyn Heemskerk 0 0-0 0, Marcello Robinson 0 3-5 3, James Gillingham 2 2-2 7, Philip Gilbert 7 4-4 20, Michael Rembert 1 0-0 2, J.J. Tauai 0 2-2 2, Mike Suggs 2 2-2 6, Jason Faulknor 3 5-9 11, Danny Adams 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 21-30 71
CMU: Brandon Voorhees 2 3-4 8, Tony Bowne 1 3-5 5, Gerrit Brigitha 5 5-6 15, T.J. Meerman 5 0-0 12, Kevin Nelson 4 2-2 12, Robert Sevalia 0 0-1 0, Tom Pantlind 0 0-0 0, Joe Carr 0 0-0 0, David Hoskins 5 3-5 13, Adam Dentlinger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 16-23 65
Halftime score: Bradley 33, CMU 28
3-point shooting: Bradley 6 (Sommerville 3, Gilbert 2, Gillingham), CMU 5 (Meerman 2, Nelson 2, Voorhees). Team fouls (fouled out): Bradley 24 (Gillingham), CMU 24 (Voorhees). Team records: Bradley 5-1, CMU 1-4