MADISON, S.D. -- Playing in their first-ever North Star Athletic Association men's basketball game, Bellevue University showed why they were picked as preseason favorites to win the conference championship. The Bruins jumped out to a 31-point halftime lead en route to a convincing 71-52 victory over host Dakota State University on Friday evening at the Dakota State University Field House.
Bellevue hit seven of their first 10 attempts from behind the arc in building a first half lead of as many as 31 points by the intermission. During the opening 20 minutes eight different Bruins drained a three-pointer and BU shots 64.5 percent from the field as a team.
The Bruins held the Trojans without a basket for over 6:30 in the first half, scoring 17-straight points on their way to building a 17-2 lead with 13:23 to play. From there the Bruins essentially shifted into cruise control.
Dakota State showed life in the second half, holding the Bruins to just 19 points for the period. DSU started fast, cutting the BU lead under 20. After Bellevue reached their largest lead of the game (54-21, 19:48), the Trojans struck for 16-straight points to trim the deficit to 54-37 with 13:46 but the lead Bellevue established early was too much to overcome.
In total, 12 Bruins scored on the evening, led by Nicolus Guzman's 13 points. He was joined in double-figures by Chris Burton with 10 points for the Bruins who hit on 45.2 percent of their field goal attempts and drained 12 trifectas on the evening.
Marquis Aaron paced the Bruins with his fourth double-figure rebound game of the season, hauling in 10 boards for BU who out-rebounded Dakota State 48-34. Carl Robinson led the Bruins with six assists while Mike Cardenas and Chris Burton chipped in with four and three dimes, respectively. Bellevue recorded assists on 20 of their 28 made field goals.
With the victory the Bruins improve to 17-5 all-time conference-openers since joining the MCAC in 1994/95.
Next on the docket for the 16th-ranked Bruins is a 7:30 p.m. North Star contest at Mayville State on Friday, Dec. 11.
