BELLEVUE, Neb. -- After a sluggish first half, the Bellevue University men's basketball team rallied behind a career-high 25 points from Taylor Pomeroy to record a 69-63 victory over visiting Haskell Indian Nations University Thursday night in the Fairfield Inn by Marriott Classic being played in the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
With the victory, the Bruins improved to 9-5 on the season. HINU fell to 4-11 overall.
Pomeroy was 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the arc while nailing all six of his free throw attempts. He also added six rebounds and a pair of assists.
Martis Johnson finished with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while adding two rebounds and two steals. Keenami Maggard added 10 points and three rebounds in the victory.
Tate Bear and Bansi King each finished with 16 points to pace the HINU offense.
The Bruins hit just 3-of-12 shots to open the game as BU fell behind 16-8 in the opening eight minutes of the contest.
Bellevue responded by hitting four-straight field goals during a 14-5 run as BU took a 22-21 lead with 5:31 left in the first period.
The Bruins went scoreless for the final 4:14 of the first half as HINU scored six-straight points to take a 29-24 lead into the intermission.
Pomeroy led BU in the opening half with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. He was 3-of-4 from behind the arc. The Bruins shot just 34.5 percent from the field in the first half and were just 3-of-10 from long range.
Bear paced the Indians in the first period with 11 points and four rebounds.
A 12-0 BU run sparked by a pair of baskets from Johnson and five points from Pomeroy gave BU a 40-35 lead with 13:25 left in the game.
The Bruins built a 10-point lead following consecutive layups by Raphael Allen, Johnson, and Christian Carter to give BU a 47-37 advantage midway through the second half.
After a 3-pointer by Bryan Strom drew the Indians to within seven points at 52-45, Pomeroy countered with five-straight points to push the lead back to double digits at 57-45 at the five-minute mark.
HINU got to within eight points following a layup by King to make it 57-49 with 3:43 remaining.
After the Bruins built a 14-point cushion, the Indians used consecutive 3-pointers by King to make it an eight-point contest at 63-55 at the one-minute mark.
A 10-foot jumper by Strom and another 3-pointer by King made it a five-point game at 65-60 with 28 seconds left in the contest.
Pomeroy nailed four free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the 69-63 victory.
The Bruins will conclude the tournament on Friday, Dec. 30, with a 6:30 p.m. contest against Northwestern (Iowa) College.
