Bellevue never trails to pick up first win

OLATHE, Kan. -- The Bellevue University men's basketball team never trailed, dominating from the opening tip, en route to a 72-52 win over Sterling College on Wednesday evening in the first round of the Jeff Uphaus Memorial Tournament.

Vinny Belcaster led three Bruins (1-1) in double figures with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Eric Pierce added 13 points, six rebounds, and three steals while Makeem Loudermill chipped in 10 points, six rebounds, and three steals off the bench.

Sterling (0-2) received 14 points from reserve Colby Baker and 11 from Derrian Reed.

The Bruins and Warriors traded buckets early on before Bellevue used a 10-0 run, punctuated by a Makeem Loudermill baseline dunk, to seize control of the game.

Bellevue pushed their lead to as many as 23, at 34-11, on a trey from Belcaster before taking a 39-18 lead into halftime. BU shot 47.1 percent in the first half while Sterling struggled to just a 20 percent effort in the opening period.

Belcaster scored the first five points of an 8-0 Bruin run out of the break as the Bruins took a 47-18 lead just 1:24 into the second half.

The Bruins led by as many as 31 points, 52-21, with 15:16 to play.

Offensively, Bellevue took better care of the ball than in the opener as they committed just 12 turnovers and, defensively, limited Sterling to just a 29.8 percent effort from the floor and 4-of-20 shooting from deep.

BU dominated the glass, 47-37, with Justin Motley pacing the rebounding effort with 11 boards to go along with a trio of blocked shots.

The Bruins take on the winner of MidAmerica Nazarene-Kansas Christian tomorrow evening in the championship round of the Jeff Uphaus Memorial Tournament in a 7 p.m. tip-off.