BELLEVUE, Neb. — The Bruin trio of Taylor Pomeroy, Paulo Araujo, and Justin Motley combined for 50 points to lead the Bellevue University men’s basketball team to a 73-57 victory over Viterbo University Friday night in North Star Athletic Association action at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
The Bellevue victory avenged last week’s 65-60 loss at Viterbo in La Crosse, Wis. BU improved to 13-9 overall and 5-3 in the NSAA. The V-Hawks fell to 12-9 on the season and 6-2 in league play.
Pomeroy finished with 18 points, going 7-of-14 from the field while adding three assists and a pair of rebounds. Araujo also scored 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He added five assists, two steals, and two boards.
Motley narrowly missed recording a double-double, registering 14 points and nine rebounds to go along with two blocked shots.
Jack Monis paced the V-Hawks with 13 points and four rebounds. Cole Crubel added 12 points, while Ben Olson finished with 11 points and four boards.
Neither team could establish control in the early going, with the largest lead for either team being four points in the first 16 minutes of the contest, which featured five ties and five lead changes.
Pomeroy scored five points in a 9-2 BU run as the Bruins grabbed an eight-point advantage at 31-23 with 1:32 left in the first half before settling for a 33-26 lead at the intermission.
Araujo led the Bruins in the opening half with 10 points and a pair of assists. Pomeroy added eight points on 2-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.
Monis paced the V-Hawks in the first half with seven points and two rebounds.
Olson added six points and three boards in the opening 20 minutes of play.
After Motley scored the first four points of the second half to give BU an 11-point advantage at 37-26, the V-Hawks went on a 5-0 run to slice the deficit to six at 37-31 with 16 minutes remaining in the contest.
Pomeroy scored four-straight points in an 8-0 BU run as the Bruins built a 15-point cushion at 49-34 at the 12:41 mark.
The V-Hawks battled back, going on a 6-0 spurt to reduce the deficit to single digits at 51-43 with nine minutes left in the game.
A deep 3-pointer by Araujo highlighted a 7-0 Bruin run as BU pushed the margin to 17 points at 62-45 at the five-minute mark.
Another deep triple by Araujo as time expired on the shot clock gave the Bruins a 19-point edge (69-50) with 1:52 remaining in the contest.
Viterbo got as close as 14 points in the final 40 seconds, following a five-point run before the Bruins ended the game on a layup by Araujo to make the final, 73-57.
The Bruins will host Waldorf University at 5 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 28) in the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
