BELLEVUE, Neb. -- BJ Shelton hit 10-of-11 field goals, scoring 23 points to lead the Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 92-73 victory over 25th-ranked Briar Cliff University on Tuesday evening at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center on Military Appreciation Night.
Briar Cliff fell to 8-4 on the season while the Bruins evened their record at 6-6.
The meeting was the first between the two schools since Nov. 30, 2013, a seven-point, 79-72, victory for the Bruins.
Shelton, who was also 3-for-3 from the free throw line, added five rebounds in the win. Nick Hilton hit 6-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc, scoring 20 points while adding a game-high seven assists. Mike Cardenas was the third Bruin in double figures, finishing with 15 points and five boards.
Austin Lefler and Erich Erdman both scored 17 points to lead the BCU offense.
After falling behind early in the contest, the Bruins used a 10-2 run over a four-minute span and led by as many as nine points at 23-14 with 12:50 left in the opening period. The Chargers stormed back with a 13-3 run to grab a one-point advantage midway through the period.
Following a 3-pointer by Jackson Lamb that knotted the contest at 32-32 at the nine-minute mark, the Bruins outscored the Chargers, 19-9, the remainder of the half to take a 51-41 lead into the intermission.
Shelton (11), Cardenas (10), and Hilton (9) combined for 30 points to pace the BU offense in the first half as the hot-shooting Bruins outshot BCU 67.7 percent to 37.9 percent. Bellevue hit 8-of-12 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. The Chargers stayed in the contest by nailing 7-of-17 from behind the arc.
The Bruins scored the first five points of the second half to extend the margin to 15 points at 56-41 with 17:39 left in the contest. A 3-point play by Shelton gave BU a 19-point edge (70-51) with 10:54 remaining. The Chargers responded with Lefler hitting three consecutive 3-pointers over the next minute to slice the margin to 10 points at 70-60.
The Chargers got as close as eight points before the Bruins used five-straight points from Hilton to highlight an 11-2 run to take an 81-64 lead with 4:44 left in the contest. The Chargers never got closer than 12 points the remainder of the contest as the Bruins secured the 92-73 victory.
Bellevue returns to the court with a pair of NSAA games this week. The Bruins play at Dickinson State (7-4 | 2-0 NSAA) on Friday, Dec. 9 at 8:30 p.m. and at Valley City State (9-4 | 2-0 NSAA) on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m.
