Three-point barrage gives Bruins season-opening win

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Jemeil King and Connor Dukes combined for 44 points and the Bellevue University men's basketball team out-scored Baptist Bible College by 31 in the second half as the Bruins picked up a 110-68 season-opening win over the Patriots on Friday evening at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.

Records:

Bellevue: 1-0
Baptist Bible College: 0-1

Recap:

Connor Dukes sank 7-of-12 three-point attempts as he scored a career-high 26 points and Jemeil King scored 18 to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists to lead Bellevue to the season-opening victory.

Tre Minton kept Baptist Bible close in the first half, scoring all 14 of his points in the opening 20 minutes, as the Patriots tied the game at 35-all with 6:12 to play in the period.

From there Bellevue closed the half on a 19-8 spurt to take a 54-43 lead into the locker room.

The Bruins picked up where they left off to open the second half, and put the game out of reach. Bellevue scored an 18-2 run in a span of just 7:03 to grab a commanding 72-45 lead.

Vaj Rice poured in 11 points and Jaron Dickson added nine to go along with eight assists as the Bruin bench combined for 37 points on the evening, out-scoring the Patriots by a 37-28 margin.

In total, five Bruins scored in double figures with Amenofis Mitchell (13) and Niamey Harris (11) joining Dukes, King, and Rice with 10-plus on the evening.

Bellevue hit at a 51.3 percent clip from beyond the arc, draining 20 of their 39 attempts on the night. Seven different Bruins hit from deep, with five players making multiple treys.

Matt Blaney led the way with eight rebounds as BU controlled the boards, 48-38.

Hunter Baker scored 13 points and dished out five assists – all coming in the first half. Minton led Baptist Bible with nine boards.

Up Next:

Bellevue travels to York, Neb. on Friday, Oct. 25 for a 7 p.m. tip-off against York College at the Freeman Center.

Notes:

• Bellevue improves to 24-26 all-time in season-openers (1970-71 and 1971-72 results unavailable) and 27-19 in home-openers (with five unknown results).
• The 110 points scored by Bellevue are the most by the Bruins since putting up 119 against Oglala Lakota (Jan. 14, 2016).
• The 110 points are the second-most scored by the Bruins in a season-opener, falling just short of the 112 they scored against Graceland to open the 2006-07 season.