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BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The College of the Ozarks won a thrilling basketball game, 82-81, over home-standing Bellevue University on Friday night at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center. The game was a showdown between two teams tied atop the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference standings entering the night and was featured as the NAIA National Game of the Week.
Ozarks (20-5/9-2 MCAC) has secured home-court advantage through at least the semi-final round of the upcoming MCAC Tournament. It was the seventh straight win for the Bobcats.
Bellevue's (22-5/8-3 MCAC) loss, their second in a row, currently has them a half-game back of Waldorf in the race to host the other semi-final. In the event of a tie, Waldorf holds the tie-breaker over Bellevue by virtue of their 2-0 season sweep of the Bruins.
The Bruins trailed by as many as 11 in the first half following a 3-pointer by Ethan Murray, giving the Bobcats a 32-21 lead with 8:08 remaining in the period. The Bruins hit three triples to fight back to within a point (41-40) at the break.
Lemle led BU in the opening half with eight points and a pair of assists. Alex Santiago paced Ozarks with nine points, three assists and two rebounds in the first period.
After a 3-pointer by Pogos Trunyan gave BU a three-point (53-50) advantage, the Bobcats responded with eight consecutive points, forcing a Bruin timeout with 13:30 remaining in the contest.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Hammock and Trunyan gave BU two-point margin at 67-65 with just over eight minutes left in the game. Ozarks countered with six-straight points to regain a 71-67 advantage at the 6:23 mark.
The two teams traded buckets for the next five minutes with neither team gaining more than a two-point cushion the remainder of the contest.
Two free throws by Lemle gave BU an 81-80 lead with 34 seconds remaining. Cameron Paschke gave the Bobcats a one-point lead with two free shots 14 seconds later. Lemle's jumper at the buzzer was just off the mark as the Bobcats squeaked out the 82-81 win.
The Bruins will host Central Baptist College at 5 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 14) in the final regular-season home game of 2014-15 season. Bellevue's four seniors, Dimitri Chonis, Thomas Hammock, Percy Lemle and Alex Worthen-Harris will all be honored in a short ceremony before the game.
