Senior Shawn Huff scored the eventual game-winning basket with 2:45 to play and Valparaiso held Washington scoreless the rest of the way as the Crusaders earned a thrilling 72-71 victory over the Huskies in opening round action of the College Basketball Invitational Wednesday evening in Seattle, Wash.

The Crusaders (22-13) advance to the quarterfinals of the inaugural CBI and will face Houston (23-9) on Monday.

The win was the first by the Crusaders in postseason play since the 1997-98 squad advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. In addition, it is Valpo’s first-ever victory over a current Pac-10 school.

Huff’s off-balance shot came right out of a Crusader timeout and gave Valpo the lead for good, after Washington had taken a one-point edge just 25 seconds earlier on a Joel Smith 3-pointer. Valpo’s defense took over from there, as the Huskies went 0-for-8 from the field in the game’s final three minutes, including two attempts from the paint and two missed free throws in the final five seconds.

The game, as many of the Crusaders’ contests have been this year, was tight throughout, as neither team enjoyed more than a five-point edge and featured 14 ties and 12 lead changes. Both squads found their largest lead of the ballgame come in the first half, as Washington led early on by a 10-6 count until Valpo went on a 13-4 run to take a 19-14 advantage.

The Huskies came back, however, and led by three, 36-33, at the half.

The second half was even closer than the first, as neither Valpo nor Washington held a two-possession lead for the first 12 minutes of the half.

A Jake Diebler’s triple with 7:25 to play matched the Crusaders’ largest advantage at five points, and Valpo still led by four points at 70-66 with 3:55 remaining on an Urule Igbavboa layup. Jon Brockman responded with a layup for Washington (16-17) on its next possession to set up the game’s final two baskets.

The post players for both sides dominated the game’s play. For the Crusaders, freshman Bryan Bouchie paced the team in the scoring column with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting, the second-highest output of his career. Igbavboa added 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds. The Huskies were led by Brockman, an All Pac-10 selection in the post, who recorded 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Valpo also got a significant contribution off the bench from Brandon McPherson, who knocked down three triples on his way to 18 points and also dished out a team-best four assists. Diebler tied for team-high rebounding honors with six boards and also handed out three assists without a turnover.

Bradley 70, Cincinnati 67

PEORIA (AP) — Jeremy Crouch scored 20 points to lead Bradley to a 70-67 victory over Cincinnati in an opening-round game of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night.

Theron Wilson added 15 for Bradley (18-15), which had not played for 12 days before Wednesday’s game.

The Braves missed nine of their first 10 shots as Cincinnati (13-19) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead.

Deonta Vaughn led Cincinnati with 23 points. John Williamson added 14 points for the Bearcats.

Tulsa 61, Miami (Ohio) 45

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Brett McDade scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half to lead Tulsa over Miami (Ohio).

Ben Uzoh had the first seven points in Tulsa’s 9-0 run to start the second half, including a three-point play and a 3-pointer from the left wing that beat the shot clock buzzer. Calvin Walls followed with a layup to make it 42-27, restoring a 15-point lead for the Golden Hurricane (21-13) that had completely evaporated late in the first half.

Rodney Haddix scored 12 points and Eric Pollitz had 10 to lead Miami, which was without head coach Charlie Coles for the seventh straight game. Coles had a heart procedure done last week but is expected to return to his job.

Utah 81, UTEP 69

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Luke Nevill scored 16 points and had 12 rebounds to lead Utah past UTEP.

Johnnie Bryant added 17 points for the Utes (18-14), who beat UTEP for the 14th consecutive meeting.

Utah entered the tournament losers of six of its last eight games but came out sharp, scoring the game’s first nine points. The Utes advance to play Tulsa in the second round Monday.

Stefon Jackson led UTEP with 20 points, and Tavarais Watts and Randy Culpepper both had 14 points. The Miners struggled early, hitting just seven of 34 shots in the first half.

Posted 3/20/2008