POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. -- James Parrott and Austin Bowen combined for 40 points and 15 rebounds to lead the No. 8 ranked Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 74-63 conference road win at College of the Ozarks Friday night. Jelani Johnson also scored his 1,000th career point and became just the 14th player in school history to reach this mark.
Bellevue has now won 17 of its last 18 games and improved to 24-5 overall and 12-1 in the MCAC while College of the Ozarks fell to 14-14 and 6-7 in league play.
Parrott led BU with 24 points and eight rebounds while Bowen chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Richard Shepherd added 13 points and Johnson recorded nine points and five assists.
BU shot 49.1 percent from field and held COFO to just 30.9 percent shooting. The Bruins also held a slight edge in rebounds, 38-36.
The Bruins erased an early nine-point deficit, 11-2, to post a 40-33 halftime lead. BU used a 16-0 run to take its largest lead of the opening stanza, 37-22, before the Bobcats closed the period on an 11-3 spurt. Parrott led the Bruins with 15 points while Mike Wiebe paced COFO with 21 first half points. The Bruins shot 53.3 percent from the field and held the Bobcats to just 33.3 percent shooting. COFO made 11 of their 12 shots from the free throw line while the Bruins attempted just five in the first half.
BU opened the second half on a 10-3 run and led the entire period en route to the 74-63 win. The Bobcats were able to get within four, 64-60, with just under three minutes, but that's the closest they got as the Bruins ended the game on a 10-3 run and made all four of their free throw attempts in the final minute.
The Bobcats were paced by Wiebe's game-high 39 points and 10 rebounds.
The Bruins will wrap-up the regular season tomorrow evening with a 5:00 p.m. game at Central Baptist College.