MADISON, S.D. -- Paulo Araujo scored 17 of his game-high 25 in the second half to lead the Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 67-54 win over Dakota State University on Saturday afternoon in the North Star Athletic Association opener for both teams.
Bellevue, winners in four of their last five, improves to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Dakota State slips to 3-9 on the year and 0-1 in NSAA action.
Araujo's 25 led all players. Joining him in double figures for Bellevue was Vinny Belcaster with 13. Eric Pierce added nine points, five rebounds, and six assists while Vaj Rice chipped in nine points and seven boards off the bench.
Deshawn Kelly was the lone Trojan in double figures, scoring 18 points off the bench, including 13 in the second half.
Play was back-and-forth early on as both teams struggled to find much offensively. Rice and Jordan Lynn traded field goals on either side of the 15-minute mark to tie the game at seven apiece. A pair of free throws from Pierce and a step-in three from Belcaster kicked off a 13-4 Bruin run over a 5:17 stretch.
Kelly pulled DSU within six with the Trojans' lone trey of the first half just under the two-minute mark. Bellevue answered by scoring a 7-2 run to end the half with Belcaster scoring the final five points, including a tip-in at the halftime buzzer.
Bellevue shot 44% from the floor in the half to DSU's 28% as the Bruins took a 31-20 lead. Belcaster led all scorers with 12 points in the period. Araujo added eight and Rice chipped in six with four boards.
The Bruins wasted little time extending their lead after the break. Six-straight points on buckets from Justin Motley, Pierce, and Araujo put BU up 16 at 39-23. A Kelly free throw at the other end cut the deficit to 15 before Martis Johnson gave the Bruins their largest lead of 17 points.
Lamarr Wood finally cut the deficit to single digits with a bucket at the 12:21 mark but the lead hovered in the 9-12 points range until Berto Gittens nailed a three with 3:21 left to cut the Bruin lead to 57-49.
The Trojans would pull within eight a second time but an and-one along with a layup by Araujo book-ended an 8-2 BU run to end the game. Johnson dealt the final blow with a corner triple at the 1:41 mark to end all hopes of a DSU comeback.
Bellevue shot a more efficient 58% in the second half to finish at 51% for the night. Despite hitting just three three-pointers, BU turned the ball over just seven times, out-rebounded Dakota State 31-29, and out-scored the Trojans 42-28 in the paint.
Bellevue continues their 10-game road trip on Saturday, Dec. 11 when they head to Mount Pleasant, Iowa for a 5 p.m. tip against Iowa Wesleyan University.
