Feb. 9, 2008

* NAIA Weekly
* NAIA Scoreboard

BELLEVUE, Neb. - The No. 9 rated Bruins of Bellevue (Neb.) avenged their loss last week with a 14-point 92-78 victory over No. 4 College of the Ozarks (Mo.) this afternoon (Feb. 9). The Bruins shot 60 percent in the first half taking a 12-point, 42-30, lead into the locker room as they held the visiting Bobcats to 36 percent from the field and 22 percent (4-of-18) from three-point range.

College of the Ozarks came out shooting and made two three-pointers going up 10-4 at the 17:26 minute mark. Bellevue answered with an 8-2 run to tie the game up at 12's following a Klaye Rowe three. The game stayed in favor of the visiting Bobcats for the next three minutes as they led 18-14 making their third from behind the arc.

In the next seven minutes, Bellevue went on a 13-4 run taking a 27-22 lead with just over five minutes before halftime. The Bruins out-scored the Bobcats 15-8 over the final five minutes before intermission.

The Bobcats warmed up early from downtown in the second half as they connected on two early three-pointers to close to within seven points (45-38). With the score 48-41 in favor of Bellevue at the 15:34 minute mark, College of the Ozarks went cold making one basket over the next three minutes extending the lead back to 11 (54-43) for Bellevue.

With four minutes left, College of the Ozarks made one last effort and closed the score to 74-67 but Bellevue went 18-11 down the stretch to pick up the victory.

"I was very pleased with the win, our guys played hard," said eighth year BU coach Todd Eisner. "It was our best win of the season!"

Bellevue University extends their home-winning streak to 37 straight games ending the 13-game win streak of College of the Ozarks. The Bruins will improve to 23-3 on the season and sit tied atop the MCAC at 7-1 with the Bobcats (22-3 overall). The Bruins shot 60 percent in the game and 54 percent from three-point range as the Bobcats shot 41 percent and 31 percent (10-for-32) from behind the arc.

John Gray led Bellevue with 22 points on 5-of-7 from the field making all three shots from three-point range. Gray was 9-of-10 at the charity stripe and pulled down six rebounds. Klaye Rowe added 21 points in the victory on 9-of-14 as Hannibal Cofield and Chance Wallesen each contributed 12 points each. The Bruin starters scored 76 of the teams 92 points compared to 62 points from the Bobcat starting five.

The No. 9 rated Bruins picked up 37 rebounds to 24 of the Bobcats as both teams combined to shoot 57 free throws. Bellevue was 28-of-36 at the charity stripe as College of the Ozarks connected on 18-of-21.

Colt Blair led the Bobcats in scoring with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 4-of-8 from three-point range as Daniel Bandy fouled out with 16 points making 3-of-7 3-pointers. Corey Stone added 14 points in the loss on a tough 4-of-15 from the field but was perfect at the free throw line making 5-of-5.

The win will put two teams with a single loss in first place in the conference with four games remaining for each squad. Bellevue has two games slated for next weekend, Friday (Feb. 15) at Peru State College at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday (Feb. 16) at Haskell Indian Nations University, tip-off at 5 p.m. in Lawrence, Kansas.