FOREST CITY, Iowa -- After a slow start and poor shooting in the opening half, the Bellevue University men's basketball team battled back for a hard-fought 65-61 victory at Waldorf University Friday night in North Star Athletic Association action at the Hanson Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 12-8 on the season and 4-2 in the NSAA. Waldorf dropped to 5-13 overall and 1-5 in league play.
Paulo Araujo led the Bruins with 13 points, two rebounds, and a pair of assists. Justin Motley added 10 points, four rebounds, and two steals.
Tyree Johnson led all players with 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field. He also added six rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Zack Meyer finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from long range.
After Waldorf raced out to a quick 15-6 lead in the first five minutes of the game, the Warriors maintained that advantage over the next 10 minutes until the Bruins used a pair of buckets in the paint by Araujo and Keenami Maggard to pull to within four points at 26-22 with 3:52 left in the half.
After a layup by Motley made it a three-point contest at 27-24, WU closed the half on a 5-1 run to take a 32-25 lead into the intermission.
The Bruins, who shot just 35.7 percent in the opening half, were led by Motley's five first-half points. Maggard added four points and four rebounds.
Johnson paced the Warriors in the opening 20 minutes of play with 10 points, four assists, and two steals.
Sparked by a 3-pointer from Araujo, BU scored the first six points of the second half to pull to within a point at 32-31 at the 18-minute mark.
After Cuello's third 3-pointer of the second half gave the Warriors a 48-43 lead, the Bruins used a 5-0 run to knot the contest at 48-all with 11:36 remaining in the game.
The Bruins countered a four-point Warrior run with six-straight points to take their first lead of the contest at 54-52 with 7:49 remaining following a layup by Raydden Grobe.
Highlighted by four points from Johnson, the Warriors responded with five-consecutive points to regain the lead at 57-54 at the six-minute mark.
Araujo scored five points in a 9-0 Bruin run as BU used two-consecutive three-point plays to grab a 63-57 edge with three minutes left in the contest.
Once again, Johnson got the Warriors back in the game with back-to-back buckets to make it a two-point contest at 63-61 with 48 seconds remaining.
A pair of free throws by Vinny Belcaster with 20 seconds remaining sealed the 65-61 victory for the Bruins.
The Bruins will head to La Crosse, Wis., on Saturday (Jan. 21) for a 5 p.m. matchup at Viterbo University.
