Titans find rhythm in second half, hold on to edge Bruins

JOLIET, Ill. -- The Bellevue University men's basketball team closed the game on a 25-10 run but it wasn't enough as the Bruins fell to Indiana University South Bend 84-79 on Sunday afternoon at the Pat Sullivan Center in the University of St. Francis Thanksgiving Classic.

BU sees their modest win-streak halted at two games as they fall to 5-6 on the season. IU South Bend improves to 2-0 with the victory.

Bellevue and IUSB played a tight first half with neither team gaining more than a five-point lead.

With the score tied at 17-all, IU South Bend used a 5-0 run to open up the first multi-possession lead of the game. Bellevue answered back with a three-pointer from Jaylen Wiltz and a layup by Jemeil King to tie the game at 22-22 with 5:00 to go.

After back-to-back possessions that resulted in points from Isaiah Bates for BU, the Bruins trailed by just one but a pair of free throws from Vashawn Sims and a put-back layup from Dylan Allen gave the Titans a 33-28 lead at the halftime break.

The Titans struggled from the field early on, shooting just 36 percent in the opening 20 minutes, but free throw shooting kept them ahead or even for the majority of the half. IUSB hit on 13-of-14 free throw tries while Bellevue attempted just one free throw.

Bellevue shot the ball better from the floor, hitting at a 48.1 percent clip in the first half, but the Bruins turned the ball over 11 times and trailed by five at the break.

Despite picking up a pair of early fouls that limited him to seven minutes of action, Lewis Hayes led Bellevue with eight first half points.

Donyell Meredith and Allen scored nine apiece to pace IUSB at the break.

IUSB opened the second half with a 14-3 run to create some separation with a 47-31 lead. The Titans hit on seven of their first 11 field goal attempts to take a 16-point lead just 4:56 into the period.

Bellevue responded with an 8-3 spurt to cut the deficit to 11. Wiltz traded three-pointers with Micah Poole before adding a jumper and King converted an and-one as the Titan lead was trimmed to 50-39 with 13:58 to play.

IU South Bend's offense was too much for the Bruins as a three-pointer from Allen put the Titans up by 20 with 6:14 min to go.

The Bruins fought back to cut the deficit to single digits as Vinny Belcaster drained a three with 2:32 to go to cut the IUSB lead to nine points but back-to-back buckets by the Titans restored the lead to 13.

Bellevue pulled to as close as five on a layup from Michael Wright with eight seconds to play but IU South Bend hit on 6-of-9 free throw attempts in the final 52 seconds to seal the victory.

IU South Bend's Allen finished with a game-high 25 points to lead all players. He was joined in double figures by Meredith (21), Sims (14), and Poole (10) while Norell Smith paced the Titans with 10 rebounds to help IUSB to a 35-32 edge on the glass.

Wiltz finished with 15 points to pace three Bruins in double figures. Hayes and King added 14 apiece while King dished out a team-best four assists. Belcaster and Jonah Brown pulled down four rebounds each to lead BU in that category.

Bellevue plays host St. Francis (0-0) tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. to wrap up play in the USF Thanksgiving Classic. The game will be the season-opener for the Fighting Saints.