Mon Mar 31 23:19:18 2008

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Tulsa beats Bradley in CBI championship series opener

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Tulsa, OK (Sports Network) - Jerome Jordan scored 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, and Tulsa survived a late Bradley surge to take Game One of the College Basketball Invitational Championship Series, 73-68, on its home floor at the Reynolds Center.

Ben Uzoh also scored 18, and Rod Earls contributed 12 points and four rebounds, as the Golden Hurricane (24-13) won their fourth straight, taking the opener of the best-of-three series. Tulsa knocked off Cincinnati, Ohio and Virginia en route to reaching the tournament finals.

Jeremy Crouch led Bradley (20-16) with 16 points, while Daniel Ruffin added 15 and five assists. Matt Salley scored seven to go with his 11 rebounds, but the Braves couldn't complete a comeback from a double-digit deficit in the final five minutes.

Earls' three-pointer made it 65-54 with just over three minutes showing, but seven straight Braves points - capped by Ruffin's dish to Salley for a hoop - trimmed the margin back to four with 2:10 remaining.

Bradley freshman Sam Maniscalco hit a deep triple to bring the Braves within two, 66-64, with less than 1:30 to go, but Brett McDade hit a pair of big free throws, and Jordan secured the victory by corralling one final board after Crouch missed on a pair of last-gasp three-point tries.

The two squads will meet again Wednesday in Game Two, scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (et) on Bradley's home floor in Peoria, Illinois. While a Tulsa win would give the Golden Hurricane the tournament title, a Bradley victory would force a Game Three back on Tulsa's court.

Bradley led by as many as seven in the first half, but Tulsa used a 12-0 spurt to take a 21-16 lead, on Uzoh's bucket, with six minutes left before the break. Ruffin found Sam Singh for a lay-in just before the halftime buzzer, tying the game at 27 at the break.

The back-and-forth pace dominated most of the second half, but Tulsa finally gained some breathing room with a 14-3 run. McDade's layup with 4:47 remaining capped the spurt, staking the Hurricane to a 61-51 advantage.