MAYVILLE, N.D. -- Playing their second North Star Athletic Association road game in less than 24 hours, the Bellevue University men's basketball team shook off a sluggish start with a huge second half comeback before falling short, 75-71, against Mayville State University on Saturday evening.
Bellevue dips to 12-10 with the loss while falling to 5-2 in NSAA play. Mayville State won their fifth-straight to improve to 7-1 overall and remain unbeaten in league play at 4-0.
Isaiah Bates poured in a season-best 16 on 7-of-10 shooting off the bench to pace the BU attack. Jemeil King scored 15 and Michael Wright added 10 to go along with seven rebounds. Justin Motley scored and points and matched yesterday's season-high with 11 boards.
Latrelle Franklin scored 18 of his game-high 24 in the first half. He was joined in double figures by Keiron Goodwin and John Ketchell with 13 and 10, respectively.
Mayville used runs of 8-2, 11-2, and 12-3 in the first half as the Comets built up a 38-23 lead by the intermission.
King led BU with 11 at the break with Bates adding eight. Host Mayville out-shot Bellevue 46-36% in the half while the Bruins committed 11 turnovers during the interval.
Bellevue scored the first four out of the break and Mayville responded with a 6-0 before the Bruins engineered a 15-3 run to cut the deficit to pull within three points at 53-50 with 11:35 to play.
A basket by Ketchel and a timeout from the Comet bench ended the run but not the momentum. Bellevue scored the next five points with a basket from Bates and a three-pointer from Paulo Araujo to tie the game for the first time since it was scoreless.
Mayville again pulled ahead, going up 63-59 following a 6-2 spurt but a pair of baskets by Bates, a paint jumper from Wright, and a layup from King comprised an 8-2 Bruin run that gave the Bruins their first lead of the game, 67-65, with 3:11 to play.
Three-straight trips to the foul line saw MSU go 3-for-6 from the stripe before layups from Iker Cruz and Franklin capped a 7-0 Comet run to give the home side a 73-69 advantage.
Layups from Wright and King, sandwiched around a Ketchel free throw pulled the Bruins to within two, 73-71 with 21 seconds to play. Franklin sank a pair of free throws with 15 seconds on the clock to account for the final margin as Mayville secured the win.
Free throw shooting seemed to be the difference as Mayville sank 14 shots from the charity stripe in their 21 attempts while BU converted six their seven tries.
Bellevue saw their 44-34 advantage on the glass negated by 19 turnovers which the Comets converted into a 16-12 edge in points off turnovers.
Bellevue continues their four-game road trip next weekend with a pair of games at Viterbo University at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 22 and Waldorf University at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23.
