BELLEVUE, Neb. — Dickinson State's season ended Saturday night with a 78-72 loss at Bellevue in Frontier Conference play at the BU Fieldhouse.
The Blue Hawks (8-20, 6-16 Frontier) led at halftime, but Bellevue (22-6, 17-5) outscored DSU 43-34 in the second half to pull out the win. The result also closed the conference schedule for Dickinson State, which missed the final spot in the Frontier Conference tournament through a three-way tiebreaker with Valley City State and Mayville State.
Dickinson State built a 38-35 lead at the break behind balanced scoring and work at the free-throw line. DSU shot 11-of-25 from the floor in the opening half and went 12-of-15 at the stripe, while holding Bellevue to 1-of-6 from three-point range.
Isaiah Vargas paced the Blue Hawks with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and hit three 3-pointers. Britton Cranston added 14 points off the bench, and Detavius Frierson scored 12 on 5-of-6 shooting. Cordell Stinson finished with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Bellevue was led by Ahamad Bynum's 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting. JJ Montgomery added 16 points, going 10-of-12 at the free-throw line, and Liam Thompson scored 11 points off the bench. Jaden Phillips and RJ Smith finished with 10 points apiece as Bellevue won the rebounding battle 40-31.
The Bruins took their first lead of the second half at the 10:37 mark on a Montgomery 3-pointer that made it 50-49. Bellevue later extended the margin to its largest lead of the night, 69-61, with 4:11 remaining following another Montgomery 3.
Dickinson State stayed within striking distance in the final minute. Weston Zacher connected on a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to cut the deficit to 75-72, but Bellevue responded at the line to close out the game.
As a team, DSU shot 23-of-55 (41.8%) from the field, 8-of-25 from three (32.0%), and 18-of-23 at the free-throw line (78.3%). Bellevue finished 27-of-58 (46.6%) overall, 4-of-15 from three (26.7%), and 20-of-29 at the stripe (69.0%). Dickinson State's bench accounted for 37 points.
