BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Third-ranked Dordt College pulled away in the closing minutes, capturing an 83-66 win over No. 13 Bellevue University in the season opener for both teams Tuesday night at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
Dordt scored 20 of the final 25 points and was led by Jordan Vogel's 22 points and six rebounds. Vogel finished 11-of-12 from the field as DC outshot the Bruins 52.5 percent to 40.7 percent.
Bellevue was led by Darius Robinson and Dominique Grant who scored 23 and 21 points, respectively. No other Bruin finished in double figures.
Dordt built an early nine-point lead at 17-8 in the opening eight minutes as the Bruins hit just 30 percent of their shots and committed four turnovers. Bellevue answered with an 11-2 run to knot the game at 19-19 at the nine-minute mark of the first half, forcing a Defender timeout.
Neither team led by more than three points the remainder of the half as the two teams entered the intermission deadlocked at 38.
The Bruins shot 41 percent in the opening half with Robinson leading the BU offense with 13 points. Dordt was led in the first half by Vogel's 12 points as the Defenders shot at a 50 percent clip.
Dordt opened the second half on an 18-9 run to build a nine-point advantage in the first eight minutes after intermission. A layup by Grant got the Bruins to within five points at 63-58 with 6:16 remaining before Dordt pulled away, scoring 13-straight points to build an 18-point margin as DC went on to earn the 83-66 victory.
The Bruins will head to York, Neb. this Friday-Saturday, Nov. 2-3, where they will participate in the York Classic. Bellevue will play Tabor College on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Concordia (Neb.) University at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
