BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Paulo Araujo scored 18 points to lead the Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 71-60 victory over Waldorf University Saturday night in North Star Athletic Association action at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 13-9 on the season and 5-2 in the NSAA. Waldorf fell to 4-16 overall and 2-5 in league action.
Araujo went 7-for-9 from the field and hit the Bruins' only 3-point field goal attempts on the night as he went 2-for-3 from long range while adding six rebounds and a pair of assists.
Vinny Belcaster and Isaiah Bates added 11 points apiece. Bates added four rebounds and two blocks in the victory.
Quincy Minor Jr. paced the Warriors with 24 points and five steals. Minor Jr. hit just 5-of-11 free throw attempts while the Warriors were 9-of-20 as a team from the charity stripe.
Lorenzo Smith and Bryanth Farr added 13 points each.
The Warriors scored the first seven points of the contest, holding the Bruins scoreless for the opening five minutes of the game. WU opened up an eight-point advantage at 14-6 following a layup by Minor Jr. at the 11:47 mark.
WU maintained a seven-point advantage until BU used a 9-0 run to take a 22-20 lead following a layup by Martis Johnson with 5:17 remaining in the opening half.
A steal and a layup by Jerome Bynum capped a 6-0 BU run giving the Bruins a 28-22 advantage at the three-minute mark.
The two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half as BU took a 30-25 lead heading into the intermission.
Araujo and Bynum led BU in the opening half with six points apiece.
Minor Jr. paced the Warriors with 11 first-half points. Smith added eight points and two rebounds.
Neither team connected on a 3-point field goal attempt in the first half as the two squads combined to go 0-for-17 from behind the arc.
Sparked by five points from Araujo, the Bruins scored the first seven points of the second half to open up a 12-point advantage at 37-25.
Four-straight points by Bates, including an emphatic dunk, increased the BU cushion to 14 points at 43-29 with 15:45 left in the contest.
A 3-pointer by Minor Jr. started a 7-0 Warrior run, slicing the lead to five points at 45-40 at the 12-minute mark.
A Minor Jr. free throw got the Warriors to within four at 49-45, before the Bruins scored six-straight to take a double-digit lead at 55-45 with 8:27 remaining.
A 3-point play by Bates gave the Bruins a 60-48 edge, while a triple from Araujo made it 65-50 at the 4:29 mark. The Warriors responded with a 6-0 run to make it a single-digit contest at 65-56 with 2:16 remaining.
That was as close as the Warriors could get as BU nailed four free throws in the final 43 seconds to secure the 71-60 victory.
The Bruins will battle Waldorf University again next Friday, Jan. 28, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Hanson Fieldhouse in Forest City, Iowa.
