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MCPHERSON, Kan. -- Junior Taylor Young nailed a 10-foot baseline jumper with three seconds remaining to give the ninth-ranked Bellevue University men's basketball team a thrilling 69-68 win at Central Christian College Friday night in Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference action at the Ed Pyle Sports Complex.
The win, combined with Haskell's 83-76 upset over No. 10-ranked College of the Ozarks, put the Bruins in a three-way tie in the MCAC regular-season standings with one game remaining.
Bellevue improved to 24-5 and is tied with Waldorf and Ozarks for the conference lead at 10-3. Central Christian dropped to 15-12 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
Percy Lemle led the Bruins with 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Young added 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Marquis Aaron collected nine points and a team-high seven rebounds in the victory.
Alonzo Stafford led the Tigers with 17 points and seven boards. Michael Gholston finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.
After building a nine-point lead at 28-19 on a jumper by Lemle with 5:12 remaining in the first half, the two teams traded seven-point runs as the margin remained at nine points at the 1:19 mark. An Ernest Burton bucket cut the BU lead to seven points before a 3-pointer by Olutola Olushola gave the Bruins a 10-point lead at 38-28 at the intermission.
Eight different Bruins scored in the first half with Dimitri Chonis leading the way with seven points and two rebounds.
Bellevue outshot the Tigers 48 to 39 percent in the opening period. Stafford paced CCC with nine first-half points.
Five-straight points from Lemle helped BU push the lead to 13 points early in the second half. However, the Tigers countered with a 15-7 run to cut the deficit to five (50-45) midway through the period. The lead was cut to two points at 60-58 following a 4-point play by Burton at the 5:34 mark and the Tigers tied the game a minute later on a short jumper by Stafford.
A 3-point play by Stafford gave CCC its first lead of the second half at 65-63 with 2:37 remaining in the game.
A layup by Daniel Nwosuh with one minute remaining pushed the Tiger lead to three points (68-65) before a pair of free throws by Lemle cut the margin to a single point with 47 seconds left in the contest.
After Olushola committed his fifth foul, Stafford missed two free throws to keep the CCC lead at one point with 18 seconds remaining, setting up Young's final shot.
After Young nailed the 10-foot jumper, Nwosuh's desperation 3-pointer was just off the mark at the buzzer, giving the Bruins' the 69-68 victory.
The Bruins conclude the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 21) with a 5 p.m. game at York College in York, Neb.
