BELLEVUE, Neb. - The Bellevue University basketball team will host the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic on Dec. 29-30.  The No. 9 Bruins take a 10-2 record into their first game while Hastings College enters with an overall mark of 6-9.

The game marks the third of four straight home contests for the Bruins who kicked off their home-stand with an 80-67 victory over NCAA Division II member University of Nebraska-Kearney. The followed that up with a thrilling 102-90 victory over No. 21 William Penn on Dec. 13.

Hastings holds a 21-6 edge in the all-time series.

LAST MEETING:

Dimitri Chonis led three Bruins in double-figures with 21 points as the Bellevue University basketball team rolled to an 86-71 season-opening victory over Hastings College at the York Classic. Bellevue (1-0) has now won consecutive season-openers while Hastings (0-1) lost to the Bruins for the first time since Nov. 9, 2011.

Pogos Trunyan canned a three-pointer at the 10:58 mark to put Bellevue up 16-13 and they would not trail again the rest of the contest.

After allowing the opening basket the No. 6 Bruins used a 9-2 run to take the lead with Taylor Young completing an old-fashioned three-point play followed by more conventional trifectas by Chonis and Thomas Hammock.

A 9-0 spurt by the Broncos gave Hastings their final lead of the game at 13-9 but four free throws by Percy Lemle in a span of less than a minute tied the game at 13-13.

Overall the Bruins out-scored Hastings 37-19 to close the first half and take a 46-32 lead into the locker room. The run was capped by consecutive triples by Yusuf Shehata with 52 and five seconds to play, respectively.

The second half started evenly with the teams essentially trading baskets until the Bruins struck for five straight to take a 65-47 lead with 10:33 remaining in the game. A 12-4 run over the span of 2:13 pulled Hastings within 10 at 69-59 but that was as close as the Broncos would get as the Bruins held on for the 86-71 victory.

Young and Alex Worthen-Harris joined Chonis in double-figures with 18 and 10 points, respectively. Young added a game-high seven assists while Worthen-Harris' seven rebounds were a team-high. On his way to his 21-point outburst Chonis hit four of his seven attempts from beyond the arc.

Shehata hit for nine points off the bench while Trunyan added eight of his own to support the Bruin attack. Bellevue hit on 44.1% (30-68) of their field goal attempts including going 12-31 (38.7%) from deep.

Perhaps most telling in the opener was that Bellevue forced Hastings to commit 19 turnovers while only committing five of their own while gaining a 20-9 edge in free throw attempts.

LAST GAME:

Bellevue: 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.

Hastings: The Hastings College men's basketball team could not overcome Friends shooting 68 percent from the floor including 60 percent from behind the arc in the first half falling 80-66 on Thursday night.

With the hot shooting in the first half, the Falcons opened up a 46-22 halftime lead as the Broncos only connected on 31 percent of its shots in the first half including 0-for-9 from behind the arc.

The Broncos did all it could to get back into the game in the second half and with 3:36 remaining Zach Lenagh cut the lead to just 10 at 71-61. That was as close as the Broncos would get as Friends would pull away for the 14 point victory.

Tobin Reinwald led the way for the Broncos with 19 points on 8-for-18 shooting but was just 1-for-6 from behind the arc. Brandon Krause added 15 points while Lenagh finished with 10.

Chris Singhateh led the way for the Falcons scoring 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

Hastings is now 6-9 (3-4) on the year and will be back in action Monday Dec. 29 taking part in the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic and will face No. 9 Bellevue with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. in Bellevue, Neb.

TEAM LEADERS:

Scoring - BU-Percy Lemle (14.9), HAS-Tobin Reinwald (17.9)

Rebounding - BU-Alex Worthen-Harris (7.3), HAS-Zach Lenagh (8.7)

Assists - BU-Percy Lemle (45), HAS-Alex Thayer (39)

Blocks - BU-Percy Lemle (9), HAS-Drew Callaghan (13)

Steals - BU-Percy Lemle (13), HAS-Brandon Krause (19)

Three-Pointers Made - BU-Thomas Hammock (41), HAS-Connor Musiel (25)

Free Throw Percentage - BU-Taylor Young (90.5, 38-42), HAS-Tobin Reinwald (76.8, 43-56)

PROBABLE STARTERS:

Bellevue - 4-Hammock, 12-Young, 15-Chonis, 22-Worthen-Harris, 34-Aaron

Hastings - 5-Thayer, 25-Reinwald, 31-Krause, 35-Lenagh, 53-DeWaard

GAME NOTES:

• Bellevue is 7-0 against fellow NAIA Division II Opponents
• Bellevue is 2-2 against NAIA Division I Opponents
• Bellevue is 1-0 against non-NAIA Opponents
• Bellevue is 4-0 at home on the season
• Bellevue is 2-1 in true road games on the season
• Bellevue is 4-1 in neutral site games on the season
• Bellevue is 10-0 when scoring 68 or more points
• Bellevue is 0-2 when scoring 52 or fewer points
• Bellevue is 6-1 when allowing 70 or more points
• Bellevue is 4-1 when allowing 67 or fewer points
• Bellevue is 1-0 in overtime games on the season (Nov. 1, def. Friends 76-70)
• Bellevue is 9-0 when shooting better than 40% from the field
• Bellevue is 1-2 when shooting worse than 40% from the field
• Bellevue is 9-0 when making 6 or more 3-Point Field Goals
• Bellevue is 0-2 when making 5 or fewer 3-Point Field Goals
• Bellevue is 7-1 when out-rebounding their opponent
• Bellevue is 2-1 when being out-rebounded by their opponent
• Bellevue is 1-0 when having the same number of rebounds as their opponent
• Bellevue went 5-2 in seven games without Taylor Young (20.4 PPG)
• Percy Lemle has scored in double figures in nine straight (16.9 PPG during streak)
• Bellevue defeated Hastings 86-71 on Oct. 31 (Opening Night) at the York Classic
• Hastings leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1972, 21-6

Bellevue ranks in Division II

• 20, 3-Point Field Goal Defense (.311)
• 26, 3-Point Field Goals Made per Game (8.33)
• 28, 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (.392)
• 30, Assist/Turnover Ratio (1.157)
• 45, Scoring Offense per Game (78.75)
• 45, Total Rebound Defense (33.50)
• 46, Offensive Rebounds per Game (11.83)
• 48, Scoring Margin (8.083)

Hastings ranks in Division II

• 25, Total Scoring Offense (1131)
• 30, Total Rebound Defense (535)
• 30, 3-Point Field Goals Made (109)
• 31, Assists (208)
• 50, Free Throw Percentage (70.6%)

UP NEXT:

Bellevue will host the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic on Dec. 29-30. The Bruins will play Dakota State at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30 to close out the event.

Hastings will play Oklahoma Wesleyan tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. to wrap up their trip to the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic.