BELLEVUE – Dickinson State (5-10, 1-1) got 15 points from Kose Egbule and a game-high 12 rebounds from Tyce Dahlberg to take down preseason NSAA favorite Bellevue University, 70-62 in Bellevue on Friday evening.
The Blue Hawks held the Bruins without a three-point basket the entire game, a significant feat against a team that came into the game shooting nearly 40 percent from deep on the season. After the teams battled to an 10-10 tie five minutes into the game, the Blue Hawks went on a 19-8 run where six different players found the scoring column to take a 29-18 lead with 7:30 left in the first half. A Gus Wright dunk pushed the Blue Hawk lead to a game-high 14 points with four minutes left in the half. John Evans beat the halftime buzzer with a put back layup to send DSU into the break up by 11 after the Bruins went on a mini-run to get within single digits.
Bellevue came out of the break and briefly cut the lead down to five with 15:42 remaining, but Christian Murphy scored five straight for the Blue Hawks and Bradyn Palmer added two to bring the lead back to ten, 47-37. Again the Bruins fought back, coming to within four on an old-fashioned three-point play. The teams traded punches down the stretch and the lead still stood at four with 1:41 left to play. An Evans layup pushed the lead back to six and DSU hit their free throws down the stretch to clinch the impressive road win as NSAA play resumes.
"Our guys had their grittiest performance of the year tonight," said third year head coach Derek Selvig. "I'm just so proud of their focus and effort for 40 minutes. Bellevue is a really good team and to go into their home gym and get a win is a tough thing to do. Every guy on our team should be proud of their effort."
The Blue Hawks took care of the ball for most of the game, committing just 11 turnovers on the night. DSU shot 47 percent (27-57) from the field, including 36 percent (5-14) from long range. Bellevue held a narrow edge in rebounds at 37-35 but got just nine points from their bench compared to 37 for the Blue Hawks.
WHATS NEXT
The Blue Hawks will look to complete a 2-0 NSAA road trip when they take on Dakota State Saturday at 4:00 pm MT. DaSU defeated Valley City State 75-70 on Friday.
