FOREST CITY, Iowa -- The Bellevue University basketball team saw their five-game win streak snapped by Waldorf College, 85-81 in overtime, on Saturday evening in a North Star Athletic Association game at Hanson Fieldhouse.
Playing the Warriors for the second time in a week the Bruins couldn't duplicate their late game mastery showed last Friday in a 61-60 win over Waldorf.
With the loss Bellevue dips to 17-8 on the season, falling to 5-2 in North Star play. Waldorf improves to 14-9 (5-6 North Star) with their third-straight victory.
A layup by Marquis Aaron with 1:21 to play in overtime cut the Waldorf lead to 74-73 but that was as close as the Bruins would come the rest of the way. Waldorf hit nine of ten free throw attempts in the game's final 32 seconds to secure the victory.
The first half saw Bellevue start hot, building a 14-point lead at the 11:35 mark before seven straight Warrior points begun to erode that advantage. The Bruins would rebuild a double-figure lead at 27-17 with 7:43 to play but Waldorf closed the half on a 16-5 run to take a slender, one-point advantage into the halftime intermission.
Following the break the second half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than five in the second 20 minutes. Waldorf took a one point lead on a pair of free throws with 48 seconds to play. Two more free throws with 15 seconds to play put the Warriors up by three at 69-66. Olutola Olushola was fouled on a three-point attempt on the ensuing possession. With nine seconds to play Olushola hit all three of his free tosses to tie the game and force overtime after Waldorf's jump shot at the buzzer was off the mark.
Olushola finished the game by scoring a team and season-high 19 points to lead the BU offense while pulling down a season-best eight rebounds. Joining him in double figures were Jerred Cook (12 points) and Tyler Morgan (11).
Waldorf received big contributions from their big three on the evening. June Prowell, Erik Brewer, and Eric Parrish combined for 59 points and 15 rebounds on the night. They were led by Prowell's 26 points while Brewer contributed 19, and Parrish poured in 14.
Bellevue is off until Saturday, Feb. 6 when they host the University of Jamestown at 5 p.m. at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
