Bruins top HLGU 65-50 to halt skid

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- The Bellevue University men's basketball team snapped their five-game losing streak with a convincing 65-50 non-conference win over Hannibal-LaGrange University on Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Sports Complex on the Trojan campus.

The Bruins improve to 4-5 overall on the season while the Trojans fall to 1-3.

Both teams traded blows early on with Hannibal-LaGrange taking a 17-15 lead on a three-pointer from Michael Hood before Bellevue rattled off a 9-0 run with triples on three-straight possessions by Jonah Brown, Paulo Araujo, and Jaylen Wiltz to prompt the Trojans to take a timeout.

Bellevue kept their hosts at arm's length the remainder of the period, stretching their lead to double figures, 32-21, for the first time on a trey from Wiltz at the 4:38 mark. The Bruins took their biggest lead of the half on a basket from Jemeil King with 23 seconds to play but a pair of free throws in the waning seconds meant BU would take a 39-28 lead into the halftime break.

It was one of the best defensive halves from the Bruins on the year as they forced HLGU into nine turnovers and limited the Trojans to just 20 field goal attempts. Bellevue shot 51.6 percent in the period and drained 7-of-13 three-point attempts.

Hannibal-LaGrange made all seven of their free throws to keep things from getting out of hand while BU did not attempt a free throw in the half.

Grant Peters led the way with 11 points and Hood added eight for the Trojans in the opening 20 minutes.

Vinny Belcaster and Wiltz scored eight points apiece to lead the Bruins at the break. Bellevue owned a 16-9 advantage on the glass in the period.

Layups from Keshawn Bruner and King out of the break pushed Bellevue's lead to 15 points, 43-28 before the Bruins hit a cold spell.

Over the next 5:10, BU went 0-of-3 from the floor and committed five turnovers as the Trojans mounted an 11-0 run to pull within four points, 43-39, on a bucket from Logan Dorethy.

Leading 47-41, Bellevue received back-to-back threes from Belcaster and Araujo to stretch their advantage back to double figures before Jonah Brown capped off an 8-0 with a bucket at the 6:30 mark to put the Bruins up 55-41.

Bellevue seized their largest lead of the game, 17 points, on a nifty look-away pass from King at the top of the key to Wiltz on the low block.

A pair of late three-pointers from Jacob Day and Hood pulled the Trojans to within 13 with 1:13 to play but Matt Blaney drained a trifecta on the ensuing Bellevue possession to deliver the finishing blow.

Hood (16) and Peters (15) combined for 31 points for HLGU to lead all scorers in the loss.

Bellevue got 11 points from Belcaster and 10 from Wiltz to lead the way offensively while Bruner added nine as all 10 Bruins who played scored at least four points in the win.

Lewis Hayes led BU on the glass with eight boards as BU piled up a 32-22 rebounding advantage.

Bellevue returns to action next weekend at the USF Thanksgiving Classic in Joliet, Ill. BU faces IU South Bend at 5 p.m. on Saturday and host St. Francis on Sunday with tip-off set for 1:30 p.m.