BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Percy Lemle and Taylor Young combined for 48 points to lead the ninth-ranked Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 102-90 victory over William Penn University in non-conference action at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins, who reached the century mark for the first time this season, won their fifth-straight game, improving to 10-2 on the season. William Penn, which boasts the nation's top-scoring offense, fell to 11-5 with the loss.
Lemle scored a career-high 25 points, while adding eight rebounds, four blocks, three assists and a pair of steals. He hit 14-of-16 free throws in the victory and was 5-of-8 from the field.
Young, who was back in action for the first time in over a month, registered a perfect shooting performance, finishing with 23 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. He nailed his only 3-point attempt and also tied a career high with eight assists.
Thomas Hammock recorded 18 points on a game-high six 3-pointers. Alex Worthen-Harris was the fourth Bruin in double figures, finishing with 16 points, along with eight rebounds and two blocks.
Kelly Madison (23) and Oliver Wells (21) led four Statesmen in double figures.
The Bruins hit 36-of-42 free throws in the contest and outshot WPU 53.7 to 41.6 percent.
Bellevue used a 26-9 run midway through the first half to erase a seven-point deficit and grab a 10-point advantage at 38-28 with 3:53 remaining in the opening period.
After WPU scored six-straight, the two teams traded buckets as BU took a 43-37 lead at the intermission.
Lemle scored 17 first-half points including an 8-of-8 performance from the charity stripe to pace the Bruin offense which outshot the Statesmen 51.9 to 35.1 percent in the first period. Madison led WPU in the first 20 minutes with 15 points and three rebounds.
After a 3-pointer by Young gave the Bruins an 11-point lead (48-37), WPU went on a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to pull to within one point at 52-51 at the 15-minute mark.
The Bruins responded with nine of the next 11 points to push the margin back to eight points at 12:28. Four-consecutive points from Young gave BU a double-digit cushion (67-55) midway through the stanza. The Statesmen scored the next seven points to get to within five points with 8:36 remaining in the game.
Consecutive 3-pointers brought the Statesmen to within two points (78-76) with five minutes left in the contest. That was as close as WPU would get as BU scored the next nine points and nailed six free throws over the final 1:10 to preserve the 102-90 victory.
The Bruins will be idle until Dec. 29-30 when they host the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
