BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Despite a career-high 34 points by Jemeil King, the Bellevue University men's basketball team fell to Graceland University, 94-90, in double-overtime in the final game of the Fairfield Inn & Suites Bruin Classic Monday evening in the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
The game featured 11 ties and 14 lead changes and neither team led by more than seven points the entire contest.
The Bruins fell to 10-6 on the season with the loss. Graceland improved to 6-8 overall.
King hit five 3-pointers, three in the second overtime, while adding eight assists and five rebounds to go along with his 34 points. Connor Dukes added 18 points while connecting on four 3-pointers. Lewis Hayes finished with 14 points and three rebounds. Isaiah Bates was the fourth Bruin in double figures, finishing with 12 points to go along with nine rebounds.
Virgil Walker paced the Yellowjackets, recording a double-double with 30 points and 14 rebounds. Nick Coleman added 22 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
After a layup by Vaj Rice gave the Bruins an early six-point lead, GU scored seven unanswered points to take a 13-12 advantage at the midway point of the first half.
A 6-1 Yellowjacket run gave GU a 23-17 lead with five minutes left in the opening period. The Bruins countered with an 8-2 spurt, capped by a driving layup from Bates to knot the score at 25 apiece at the 2:54 mark.
Four-straight points by Dukes gave BU a narrow 29-28 lead at the intermission.
Neither team shot well in the first half as both teams were 38.7 percent from the field. BU was 1-of-12 from behind the arc.
Hayes led the Bruins in the opening half with 10 points, while Dukes added seven points, one rebound, and an assist.
Doc Self paced the Yellowjackets in the first period with eight points and a pair of rebounds.
Two-consecutive 3-pointers by King capped a 10-4 run to open the second half, giving BU a 39-32 advantage. GU responded with nine-straight points to take a 41-39 lead at the 14-minute mark.
After a 10-2 GU run helped the Yellowjackets gain a seven-point advantage (58-51) with 8:25 to play in the game, the Bruins countered with five-straight points from King in a 9-2 run to pull to within a point at 60-59.
Trailing 66-63, Dukes sank a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim three times before falling, tying the game at 66-all with 1:40 remaining. Dukes drained another 3-pointer a minute later to give BU a 69-66 lead with 35 seconds left in regulation.
Nick Coleman tied the game eight seconds later with a baseline 3-pointer, making it 69-all.
Niamey Harris' 3-pointer was off the mark at the buzzer, forcing the first overtime.
After a long 2-pointer by King gave the Bruins a 76-73 lead with one minute remaining in overtime, a layup by Walker cut the lead to one point with 15 seconds left. Harris sank one-of-two free throws to push the lead to two points, before Coleman's layup just before the buzzer forced the second overtime.
The Yellowjackets scored the first seven points of the second overtime before King fueled a 10-4 BU run, scoring all 10 points to pull the Bruins to within a point at 88-87 with 1:16 remaining.
Graceland hit 3-of-5 free throws down the stretch to build a 92-87 lead with 8.4 seconds left in the second overtime. King, then drained a deep triple to make it 92-90 with 2.7 seconds left.
Coleman hit 1-of-2 free throws and the Bruins threw the ball away on the ensuing possession as GU earned the dramatic 94-90 victory.
King scored all 13 of the Bruins' points in the second overtime.
The Bruins will host Nebraska Christian College at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4, in the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
