YORK, Neb. -- The #4 Bellevue University men's basketball team scored the game's first 14 points and never looked back en route to an 80-70 win over Friends University on Saturday afternoon at Freeman Center in the York College Classic.
With the win Bellevue improves to 2-0 while Friends falls to 0-2 in the season's early going.
The Bruins out-shot Friends in the first half, 42.4-27.6 percent and knocked down 9-of-16 three-point attempts as BU eased their way to a 26-point halftime advantage at 47-21.
The second half was played more evenly with Friends out-scoring BU. Friends got as close as eight points at 76-68 on an and-one with 50 seconds to play in the second half but the BU lead was too much to overcome as Bellevue held on for the 10-point win.
Nick Hilton paced the Bruins with 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a 4-of-7 effort from beyond the arc while adding eight rebounds. Jalen Hall added 14 points to go along with five assists, BJ Shelton scored 12, and Connor Dukes chipped in with 10 off the bench.
Blake Wilder pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to lead BU to a 40-25 advantage on the glass.
Friends was led by Jordan Murdock's 29-point outburst while Atir Cherne poured in 19 of his own. Murdock also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
For the game Bellevue hit on 50.0 percent (10-of-20) of their three-point tries and 77.8 percent (28-of-36) of their free throw attempts while the Falcons shot 35.7 (5-of-14) from three and 69.2 (9-of-13) at the stripe.
The Bruins return to action at the Jeff Uphaus Memorial Classic, hosted by MidAmerica Nazarene University, on Thursday-Friday, Nov. 2-3. BU takes on Park at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday with Friday's opponent and start time dependent upon Thursday's results.