Ben Uzoh scored 17 points.

April 4, 2008

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Ben Uzoh scored 17 points and Tulsa rallied after a slow start to beat Bradley 70-64 Friday night and win the championship of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Rod Earls hit a 3-pointer from the left side to give Tulsa a 60-59 edge with 2:24 to play, and Uzoh followed by going 1-for-2 at the foul line.

Bradley had two chances to tie it at the other end, but Jeremy Crouch missed a jumper and a tip-in attempt by Theron Wilson also was off target. Earls got fouled on the rebound and hit both of his free throws to stretch the lead to four.

Brett McDade hit two more foul shots after a missed 3-pointer by Daniel Ruffin, the point guard from Bradley's team that upset Kansas and Pittsburgh in the 2006 NCAA tournament, and Tulsa (25-14) hit enough free throws after that to clinch its third postseason tournament title.

Each game of the best-of-three championship series was won by the home team, and Tulsa had its second sellout crowd of the season at the Reynolds Center to create a raucous atmosphere. Fans from the student section stormed the court at the final buzzer.

The team was presented with a crystal trophy and a banner to hoist in the rafters alongside ones commemorating the school's NIT championships in 1981 and 2001. Players climbed a ladder to cut down the net as fans stuck around to cheer each snip.

Seniors Calvin Walls and Earls each scored 14 points in their final collegiate game, and tournament MVP Jerome Jordan added 11 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks for the Golden Hurricane.

For the first time in several years, a sellout crowd came to the Reynolds Center for an opponent outside the top 10. Memphis drew a sellout earlier this season, and Oklahoma and Gonzaga also filled every seat for games in the past four years.

On one possession at the end of a 5-minute, second-half stretch that featured 11 lead changes, the crowd of 8,455 was loud enough that Golden Hurricane coach Doug Wojcik's team couldn't hear him hollering instructions from the end of the floor in front of the Tulsa bench.

Tulsa, which got off to an awful start in the first half to fall behind 16-2, took its first lead when Uzoh curled around the left side for a layup in the midst of a 10-2 surge to open the second half. Ray Reese, who missed much of the first half after picking up three quick fouls, followed with a 3-pointer to make it 40-36 with 14:16 remaining.

Bradley rallied to tie it at 43, and the lead then changed hands back-and-forth at a furious pace until Uzoh hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to put Tulsa up 57-55 with 6:31 left.

Tulsa slowed down the pace after that, but it was Bradley that got the next two baskets to pull ahead 59-57 on Ruffin's driving layup with 3:19 left.

The Braves didn't score again until Ruffin's 3-pointer with 17.6 seconds left, when the game was already out of reach.