BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Jemeil King matched a season-high, scoring 28 points, to lead the Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 73-62 North Star Athletic Association win over Dakota State University on Thursday evening in the regular-season finale from inside the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
With the win, Bellevue (17-13/9-5 NSAA) wraps up the No. 2-seed in next week's NSAA Tournament. Dakota State falls to 9-14 with the loss and wraps up conference play with a 7-7 mark. The Trojans will be the No. 5-seed in the North Star Tournament.
King led Bellevue with a game-high 28 points and Jaylen Wiltz joined him in double figures with 15. Vaj Rice led all BU with eight rebounds off the bench and Justin Motley scored seven and pulled down seven boards.
Gare Ewefada (16), Lamarr Wood (15), and Gairges Daow (14) combined for 45 points for the Trojans. Gavin Schipper added nine and Jordan Lynn scored eight to go along with eight boards.
Dakota State took a 29-28 lead into the half after a sloppy opening period in which both teams shot just 40% from the floor and combined for 15 turnovers.
The Trojans stretched their lead to five early in the second period after Daow sandwiched back-to-back treys around an Eric Pierce lay-in. The lead bounced back-and-forth between three and five points until Wiltz knocked down one of his three trifectas.
The Bruins grabbed their first lead of the second period, 47-44, when Paulo Araujo canned a trey to cap a 10-2 run with 13:29 remaining.
With Bellevue leading 58-53, King took control hitting contested threes on two-straight possessions late in the shot clock as Bellevue stretched their lead to nine points, 64-55, with just 3:09 to play.
Dakota State pulled within six points but an NBA-range three from Wiltz, following a skip pass from the corner, at the shot clock buzzer found nothing but net to ice the game and put BU ahead by nine with 1:08 left.
Wiltz, Araujo, and King each sank a pair of free throws in the final 43 seconds to secure the victory.
Four Bellevue seniors – Matt Blaney, Lewis Hayes, Jemeil King, and Jaylen Wiltz – were honored for their contributions to the Bruin basketball program.
Bellevue hosts Waldorf University (5-16/4-9 NSAA) at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23 in the quarterfinal round of the NSAA Tournament.
