BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Justin Bessard and Josh Meier combined for 36 points to lead the Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 63-46 victory over Dakota State University Saturday night in North Star Athletic Association action at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
With the victory, the Bruins improved to 17-13 overall and 11-3 in league play. The win by BU, coupled with Presentation's loss at Dickinson State, earned the Bruins a tie for first place in the final North Star Athletic Association standings. Dakota State finished the regular season with a 9-21 overall record and a 4-10 league mark.
Based on published tie-breakers BU will be the No. 1-seed and host Waldorf University (6-21, 2-12 NSAA) on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. inside the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
Bessard led the Bruins with 19 points and four rebounds. Meier, finished 8-of-9 from the field, scoring 17 points while grabbing three boards.
Josh McGreal and Justin Folkers both scored 12 points to pace the Trojan offense. Folkers added eight boards for DSU.
The first half featured 13 lead changes as neither team led by more than three points in the first 12 minutes of the contest until seven-straight BU points gave the Bruins a 25-19 lead with seven minutes remaining before intermission.
Bellevue closed the first half on a 6-2 run to take a 31-23 lead at halftime.
Bessard led the Bruins in the first half with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. Meier added seven points and Richard Reed and Sequan Walker each chipped with six points.
McGreal, who scored the Trojans' first seven points of the game, paced DSU in the opening 20 minutes with nine points and a pair of rebounds.
Bessard scored the first four points of the second half to give BU its first double-digit lead of the game at 35-23 at the 18-minute mark. A 9-0 Bruin run highlighted by seven-straight points from Bessard expanded the margin to 19 points at 51-32 with 10:50 remaining in the game.
A basket by Folkers drew the Trojans to within 16 points at 58-42 but that was as close as DSU would get as the Bruins breezed to the 63-46 victory.
Bellevue outshot the Trojans, 51.8 to 45.5 percent in the contest and held a 30-23 advantage in total rebounds.
Times, pairings and sites for the NSAA Tournament will be released on Sunday.
