BELLVUE, Neb. -- The 16th-ranked Kansas Wesleyan University men's basketball team pulled away midway through the first half and never relinquished the lead while earning a 70-63 victory over Bellevue University Saturday night in the final game of the Chick-fil-A Classic at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
The loss dropped the Bruins to 0-2 on the season. KWU improved to 1-1 overall.
Makeem Loudermill led the Bruins with 13 points, three rebounds, three steals, and a pair of assists. Nigel Wilson added 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Jerome Bynum was the third Bruin in double figures, finishing with 10 points along with three rebounds and two steals.
Thurbil Bile led four Coyotes in double figures, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and three steals. He was perfect from the charity stripe, going 8-for-8. The Coyotes were 15-of-17 from the free-throw line for the night.
Cory Kaplan added 16 points, while Caden Hale and Alex Littlejohn finished with 15 and 10 points, respectively.
After the Bruins took a 14-13 lead on a layup by Bynum, the Coyotes scored 13 unanswered points sparked by a dunk from Bile to give KWU a 26-14 lead with 10:30 left in the first half.
Bile's third dunk of the opening half gave the Coyotes a 16-point cushion at 34-18 at the 7:23 mark.
A layup by Vinny Belcaster capped a 9-2 BU run as the Bruins cut the deficit to single digits at 36-27 with 3:49 left before the intermission.
KWU built the lead back up to 16 points before BU scored the final four points of the half to make it a 12-point contest at 45-33 heading into halftime.
The Coyotes scored 14 first-half points off Bruin turnovers while going 17-of-31 from the field.
The Bruins were led in the first half by Wilson's 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Bile and Kaplan scored 14 points apiece to pace the KWU offense in the opening 20 minutes of play.
After KWU opened the second half with a 3-pointer by Easton Hunter to expand the lead to 15, the Bruins scored seven straight, capped by a 3-pointer by Raydden Grobe to make it an eight-point contest at 48-40 with 16:28 remaining.
The Coyotes countered with a 7-0 run to expand the margin to 15 points at 55-40 at the 12:26 mark.
The Bruins closed to within 10 points following a 5-0 run midway through the second half. That was as close as BU would get until a 4-0 spurt aided by a pair of free throws from Jaden Phillips and a tip-in by Loudermill brought Bellevue to within eight points at 68-60 with 45 seconds left in the game.
After Hale drained a pair of free throws, Belcaster's 3-pointer at the buzzer made the final, 70-63.
The Bruins will travel to Phoenix, Ariz. on Thursday, Nov. 2, where they will take on Park University Gilbert beginning at 9 p.m. (central time).
