Sagan Osborne | Dickinson State Sports Information Director
DICKINSON – For the second consecutive night four Blue Hawks finished in double figures, as Dickinson State used an early lead to take down Bellevue University, 71-68, on Saturday evening in Scott Gym.
The Blue Hawks raced out to a 13-0 lead before Bellevue would even score their first point, and BU was held without a made field goal for the first eight minutes of the contest. DSU responded with a personal 5-0 run by Gus Wright to take an 18-3 lead with 9:52 left in the half. A couple of small runs got the Bruins back to within striking distance, but a Cordell Stinson basket late in the half gave DSU a 34-22 lead heading into the halftime break.
Dickinson State maintained their double-digit lead for much of the second half, but with 3:53 left the Bruins got within single digits for the first time all night. BU got to within four at 67-63 with 2:15 left, but the Blue Hawks were able to hold strong and a late three-pointer that brought the Bruins to within three was a non-factor as DSU was able to run the clock out on their next possession.
Gus Wright led DSU with 16 points and 4 rebounds off the bench and Stinson added 10 of his own from the bench to help the DSU bench outscore their counterparts 33-16. John Evans scored 13 points and Christian Murphy added 11 to round out the DSU double-digit scorers.
"What a gutsy effort by our guys," said head coach Derek Selvig. "We still need to work on end of game scenarios and get more comfortable with having leads late, but our guys pulled it out. We have so many guys that can impact a game and it's a total team effort."
Both teams shot well from the floor as the Blue Hawks went 26-50 (53 percent) to continue their recent hot-shooting streak. DSU outrebounded the Bruins by a wide margin, 34-21, leading to a 14-0 advantage in second-chance points.
WHATS NEXT
The Blue Hawks will take on Valley City State in a game with huge playoff implications next Thursday in Scott Gym.