BELLEVUE, Neb. – Bellevue wasn’t about to be out-done at home on senior night as they cruised to a 109-73, 36-point victory over York College on Saturday evening. The Bruins went on a 42-15 run to start the second half to blow open the game sending Bellevue to their 22nd win of the season.
Bellevue topped the 100-point mark for the second time, the last coming against the same York team early in the conference schedule. By the end of the game, Bellevue shot a blistering 64 percent and held their opponents to 31 percent in the second half and 40 percent for the game.
Heading into next week’s MCAC tournament, Bellevue will improve to 22-7 overall and 8-4 in the conference, good for the No. 3 seed as York College will not qualify for the post-season falling to 3-25 and 2-10. The tournament will kick-off next Friday (Feb. 27) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma as Bellevue will face the No. 2 seed, College of the Ozarks. Game time is yet to be determined.
Saturday’s game got underway with the announcing of seven senior starters. Granted only can take the court, but in recognition on senior night, Phil McClain, Davon White, Kyle Prochaska, Carlos Bravo, Neville Brown, Jerrod Tucker and Brian Sublet were all honored.
The Bruins could have used all seven players early as the traveling York Panthers took a five point lead (13-8) in the first four minutes. Bellevue bounced back at home (10-2) going on a 6-0 run to tie the contest at 18’s. Over the next five minutes, the Bruins jumped out to a nine point lead (32-23) when they out-scored the Panthers 14-5 capped off by a Davon White to Carlos Bravo (pictured above right) alley-oop that brought the fans to their feet.
By intermission, Bellevue led York by 15 (51-36) shooting close to 66 percent (23-of-35). Through the first twenty minutes, Bellevue had already recorded 13 assists and forced 7 turnovers with 22 rebounds.
It took only six minutes into the second half for Bellevue to put the game out of reach going on a 25-6 run to take a 36-point lead with 14:39 left in regulation. The Bruins extended their lead to 44 points, out-scoring the traveling Panthers 42-15 with nine minutes left. Down the stretch, Bellevue kept York at bay scoring 22 points in the paint compared to York’s 2 points while the home bench contributed 28 points in the second half.
Five players finished in double-digits for the 19th-ranked Bruins, Jerrod Tucker scoring a team-high 20 points in 17 minutes. Tucker, the senior from Chicago, Illinois, went 10-of-12 from the floor. Kyle Prochaska (Wahoo, NE) just missed his 17th double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds on 5-of-7 shooting.
Senior’s Carlos Bravo (Hartford, CT) and Neville Brown (Charlotte, NC) each scored 10 points. They combined to go 8-of-11 from the field. The forward duo also finished the night with 4 rebounds each. Martell Nelson contributed 10 points coming off the bench. Phil McClain, a senior from Chicago, had a game-high 6 assists, two off his season-high, as he added 3 points and 5 rebounds.
Brian Sublet (Mesquite, TX) had 6 points in 8 minutes as Davon White (Omaha, NE) picked up 7 points and 5 assists in 18 minutes. Bellevue had 27 assists, their third straight game over 20 and second highest since their season opener against Nebraska Christian College (36).
York College had a game-high 30 points from Wendell Moore on 10-of-23 which included 6-of-13 3-pointers. He had 12 points in the first half and connected on 4-of-8 from deep in the second half for 18 points. Moore played 34 minutes and his flurry of three-pointers in the second half wasn’t enough to get past the revitalized Bruins.
Dashon Jones had 19 points on 5-of-12 from the floor and 8-of-12 from the charity stripe. Jones led the team with 7 boards and 2 assists in 30 minutes. Dakota Webster and Jeremy Roman added 5 points apiece in the start as Brent Smith also chipped in 5 off the bench.
York College shot 39 percent for the game (22-of-56) while going 10-of-25 from three-point range. York was out-rebounded by the host Bruins (26-48) and had 13 turnovers. The Panthers lost their last time against Bellevue, 114-75, in a home game earlier this year. Bellevue now has their two highest point totals of the season, both coming against the Panthers.
Bellevue will gear up for the MCAC tournament next weekend. The Bruins will travel south to Oklahoma Wesleyan University, the host school for the post-season championships. The schedule, times and seeds will be released this weekend.
With a Haskell victory at College of the Ozarks, three teams in the league will close out the conference schedule with identical 8-4 records. As the league tie-breaker has it, Oklahoma Wesleyan University will host and be the No. 1 seed as tentatively, College of the Ozarks will hold the No. 2 slot. Bellevue University and Haskell Indian Nations University will round out the final two spots at No. 3 and No. 4. This will pair the host Eagles against the Fightin’ Indians and the Bruins and Bobcats next Friday (Feb. 27). The championship game will take place on Saturday, February 28.
