SALINA, Kan. -- Keenami Maggard scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds but the Bellevue University men's basketball team was unable to dig out of an early hole in a 78-54 loss to Kansas Wesleyan University at the KWU Coyote Classic.
Bellevue suffered their first defeat, falling to 2-1 on the season. The win sees Kansas Wesleyan open the year at 1-0.
Bellevue struggled mightily to get any offensive flow in the opening minutes while Kansas Wesleyan got a seemingly endless run of layups and other high percentage chances.
BU fell behind 12-2 at the 15:26 mark before Paulo Araujo hit a step-back three-pointer to make it 12-5 but a 9-3 KWU run gave the Coyotes a 21-8 lead with 12:20 remaining in the half.
Kansas Wesleyan's lead grew to 25 points on an Easton Hunter three-pointer with 4:31 left in the period.
Keenami Maggard answered with an old-fashioned three-point play as Bellevue showed some life, closing the half on a 10-3 run. The Bruins trailed 42-24 at halftime.
KWU shot 58% in the field half to Bellevue's 33%. Both teams struggled at the line with BU going just 2-for-7 and Kansas Wesleyan shooting just 4-of-8 in the first half.
Maggard led the Bruins with 12 points at the break. Alex Littlejohn matched him for the Coyotes who saw eight players record a field goal and nine work their way into the score column in the period.
Kansas Wesleyan ran their lead to 28 points less than four minutes into the second half and pushed their lead to as many as 33 before finishing off a 24-point victory.
Maggard led the way with 20 for Bellevue. Raydden Grobe added eight and Raphael Allen chipped in seven in the loss.
Littlejohn and Jun Murdock scored 12 apiece to pace the Coyotes with Littlejohn hauling in a game-high 15 rebounds. Caden Hale and Cory Kaplan score nine apiece as Thurbil Bile and Trey Duffey registered eight each.
Bellevue meets Bethany College (2-0) tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the final game of the KWU Coyote Classic.
