The Brady bunch now gets to enjoy a fine time at Winona Lake.
It would have been a big surprise midway through this basketball season, but coach Brac Brady’s first set of Tennessee Temple Crusaders has reeled off 13 wins in a row and is 22-11 going into the late quarterfinal tonight against defending champion Cedarville (Ohio) in the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I tournament in the Indiana town.
No fewer than 17 Crusaders have played in at least a dozen games, and Brady regularly uses 10 to 12. Late-season addition Elliot Johnson leads them with 14 points and 6.6 rebounds a game and was the Mid-East Region player of the year despite coming off the bench, and fellow reserve Corey Sanders (8.5 ppg) was the region tournament MVP last weekend.
Rashaud Bell averages 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds, 3-point hot shot Weedlens Beauvil 10.5 points, Hampton Mack 9.2 points and 6.1 rebounds and freshman PJ Whittaker 9.0 points. And they’re not the only ones who’ve led in individual games.
“We’ve kind of found our niche over the course of the season, and our chemistry has evolved as the guys have bought into their roles,” Brady said after practice Tuesday. “Using a lot of bodies makes us fresher at the end of games.