Posted: Mar 13, 2010
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo -- Junior \#Avery Tyler\# scored 27 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the fourth-seeded Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 71-65 victory over fifth-seeded Indiana University Southeast in the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of College of the Ozarks.
The Bruins improved to 28-7 on the season and will face top-seeded Walsh University (31-2) in the national semifinals at 6 p.m. on Monday, Mar. 15. Indiana-Southeast ended its season at 27-5.
Tyler was the only Bruin in double figures as he connected on 8-of-11 shots from the field including a 2-for-2 performance from behind the arc.
Senior \#Antoine Dade\#, the team's second-leading scorer on the season, was held without a field goal, but pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds, while scoring five points, all on free throws.
Redshirt freshman \#Marcos Perez\# scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds. Senior \#Ron King\# contributed with eight points, four rebounds, and two assists. Sophomore \#Ousseynou Diop\# was 4-for-4 from the field, finishing with eight points and three rebounds off the bench.
The Bellevue defense held IUSE to 23 points below its season average while limiting the Grenadiers to 32.4 percent shooting from the field. IUSE came into the game with the fifth-best scoring offense in the NAIA at 88 points per game. Bellevue hit at a 45.8 percent (22-of-48) clip.
George White led four Grenadiers in double figures, finishing with 13 points, two rebounds, and two blocks.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Perez and Tyler gave the Bruins a nine-point advantage at 20-11 with 11:36 remaining in the first half. A 3-pointer by \#Josh Vanderslice\# gave Bellevue its first double-digit advantage at 23-13 at the midway point of the first period.
ISUE responded with a 7-1 run to close the gap to 24-20 at the 8:39 mark. A pair of free throws by Carlos Mitchell brought the Grenadiers to within two points at 26-24 with 1:25 left in the period.
The Bruins closed the half on a 9-0 run with baskets by Tyler and King and 3-point play by Tyler just before the buzzer to give Bellevue a 33-24 cushion at the break.
Tyler scored 16 points in the opening 20 minutes to lead all scorers as Bellevue shot 47.62 percent (10-of-21) from the field and 54.5 percent from behind the arc. The Bruins connected on six 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and finished with seven for the game.
Dade pulled down nine boards in the opening half.
The Grenadiers opened the second half with a full-court press that stymied the Bruin offense as IUSE went on a 15-7 run in the first six minutes to close the gap to one point at 40-39.
IUSE tied the game at 43-all on a 3-point play by Rick Bodiford at the 12:22 mark.
Five points by Tyler keyed a 10-0 Bruin run as Bellevue held the Grenadiers scoreless for a four-minute period, while building a 53-43 cushion with 8:30 left in the game.
Baskets by Perez and \#Jelani Johnson\# gave the Bruins their largest lead at 63-49 with 4:39 remaining.
IUSE sliced the lead to single digits with a 6-0 run that narrowed the margin to 63-55 at the 2:25 mark.
A pair of free throws by Tyler and Perez and another by Dade in the final minute sealed the 71-65 victory as Bellevue advanced to the program's third national semifinals. Bellevue finished as the national runner-up in 2004 and 2008,
Notes
- The Bruins are making their eighth-straight appearance in the NAIA Men's Basketball Division II National Tournament.
- This marks the third time the Bruins have advanced to the NAIA National Tournament semifinals.
- Bellevue finished as the runner-up in 2004 and 2008
- The Bruins own a 17-10 all-time record in the National Tournament
- After starting the season 3-6, Bellevue has won 25 of its last 26 games.
- The Bruins have won nine-straight since losing at defending national champion Oklahoma Wesleyan, 85-69, on Feb. 6.
Quotes from Head Coach Shane Paben
On the team effort so far in this tournament :
"This was a great team effort. Somebody new steps up every game. Our balance and team play has made this such a fun team to be around. Everyone of our players contributes."
On handling IUSE's full-court pressure:
"We have not had a team use an aggressive full-court press on us this year. I thought we regained our composure midway through the second half. I felt like early on we gave them a lot of silly turnovers, instead of them earning it."
On limiting the Grenadiers' high-powered offense
"We did a really good job of keeping them in front of us and not allowing them to penetrate. We contested a lot of their shots and held them to a low shooting percentage."
