BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Despite a furious second-half comeback effort, the Bellevue University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought, 67-60, decision to No. 20 University of Saint Francis (Ind.) Wednesday night in non-conference action in the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
The loss moved the Bruins to 6-8 on the season. The Cougars improved to 8-1 overall with the victory
The Bruins trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half but held the Cougars without a field goal in the final 9:55 of the game and used a 21-1 run to pull to within five points late in the contest. BU got as close as four points before falling by seven.
Jemeil King and Michael Wright led the Bruins with 14 points apiece. King added five assists and four rebounds. Wright narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with nine boards, to go along with four blocked shots.
Antwaan Cushingberry led the Cougars with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists, and a pair of steals. David Ejah notched a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Dan McKeeman hit 4-of-6 3-pointers, finishing with 14 points along with two steals.
The Cougars nailed their first four 3-pointers and used an early 16-2 run to take a 19-7 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half. Cushingberry hit his first four shots including a pair of triples, scoring 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the contest.
The Bruins got as close as eight points in the first half following a short jumper by Lewis Hayes before USF closed the half on an 11-4 run to take a 38-23 lead into the intermission.
Cushingberry led USF in the first half with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Ejah added eight points and nine rebounds.
Bellevue was paced by Keshawn Bruner's six points and three boards. BU shot just 42.3 percent in the first half and was 1-of-6 from behind the arc.
After the Cougars built a 20-point advantage early in the second half, the Bruins battled back to as close as 16 points following a 3-pointer by King. A 3-pointer by McKeeman capped an 11-3 USF run to give the Cougars a 25-point lead at 60-35 with 9:55 remaining in the contest.
Two-straight 3-pointers by Paulo Araujo sparked a 13-point BU run to pull the Bruins to within 12 points (60-48) at the six-minute mark. A short jumper by Isaiah Bates cut the lead to single digits at 61-52 with 3:21 remaining. A fastbreak layup by King made it a seven-point (61-54) contest at the two-minute mark.
A putback by Wright made it 61-56 with 50 seconds remaining.
Following a free throw by Ejah, King drilled a pair of free shots to make it a four-point game with 34 ticks left in the battle.
After a steal by King, Araujo missed a 3-pointer and Jalan Mull was fouled and nailed two free throws. The Bruins countered with a dunk by Bates to make it 64-60 with 20 seconds remaining.
Ejah hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 18 seconds to seal the victory, 67-60.
The Bruins travel to Orange City, Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 19 for a 6 p.m. matchup at Northwestern College.