BELLEVUE, Neb. -- A frustrating night on the offensive end of the floor saw the fourth-ranked Bellevue University men's basketball team fall to Morningside College 75-57 in non-conference action on Tuesday evening in the Bruins' home-opener at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
Bellevue sees their record fall to 3-2 on the year while Morningside, with their third-straight win to open the season, moves to 3-0.
The first half stayed fairly close for the majority of the period with Morningside getting the lead to as many as nine points on three occasions but Bellevue continually made shots to keep within striking distance. Trailing 34-25 with 3:01 to play in the period, Bellevue closed the half on a 6-0 run courtesy of a Drew Apsher three-pointer and a three-point play from Jaffery Stillman to trail just 34-31 at halftime.
In the second period Bellevue stayed within single digits until a 15-5 Mustang run put Morningside up 59-44 with 9:37 on the clock. The Bruins never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Jalen Hall and Richard Reed scored 10 points apiece to lead the Bruins while BJ Shelton added eight and Stillman scored seven points and pulled down eight boards. Blake Wilder led BU with nine rebounds.
Pierce Almond led three Morningside players in double-figures with 19 points. Zach Imig did some of everything for the Mustangs finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists. Brody Egger finished with 13 points and Tyler Borchers paced Morningside with 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Bellevue dominated both in points in the paint (34-18) and second chance points (10-2) but Morningside sank 15 three-pointers as a team, shooting 44.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The Bruins next play a pair of games at the First Bank Richmond Classic, hosted by IU-East. Bellevue plays #3 St. Francis (Ind.) at 8 p.m. on Thursday and will then take on either #9 IU-East or (RV) Washington Adventist on Saturday with game-time dependent on Thursdays results.
