JAMESTOWN, N.D. -- A 54% effort from the floor and 13 three-pointers fueled the University of Jamestown to a 75-50 win over the Bellevue University men's basketball team in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Bellevue's eighth-straight loss drops the Bruins to 12-16 overall as they fall to 4-11 in NSAA play. They will be the 5-seed in Wednesday's first round match-up against Valley City State.
Jamestown improves to 16-10 and 11-4 in conference play. The Jimmies will be the 2-seed and have a bye until the NSAA semifinals on Saturday, Mar. 1.
TJ Fritz scored 11 to lead the Bruins. Raphael Allen added nine and Deng Jal chipped in eight. Matt Mathok and Christian shared team-high rebounding honors with four boards apiece.
Anthony Walters led a quartet of Jimmies in double figures with 19 points on 8-13 shooting. Silas Bennion scored 16 to go along with five boards and four assists. The duo was joined in double figures by Owen Hektner and Spencer Barr with 14 and 10, respectively.
Offensive woes plagued the Bruins from the jump as the Bruins slogged their way to a 36% effort from the floor for the game.
BU took an early 6-5 lead on a bucket from RJ Smith with 16:16 to play in the first half before finding just one field goal over the next seven minutes. During that time, Jamestown out-scored BU 20-2 to snag a 17-point lead.
Fritz cut the deficit to 10 with a three-pointer at the 1:37 mark but Jamestown closed the half with four-straight points.
Eight-straight to open the second half for the Jimmie gave the hosts a 22-point lead from which they never looked back.
Jamestown led by as many as 31 before taking the final by a margin of 25 points.
