Bruins see large lead slip away at York

YORK, Neb. -- Pat Burnett's basket with 12 seconds left lifted York College to an 86-84 victory over the 14^th-ranked Bellevue University men's basketball team in the York Tip-Off Classic on Friday evening at the Freeman Center.

Records:

#14 Bellevue: 0-1
York: 2-0

Recap: York 86, #14 Bellevue 84

The Bruins led by as many as 20 points late in the first half but were unable to close out York College, falling on a Pat Burnett

After the game began fairly evenly, Bellevue rattled off seven-straight points to grab a 31-18 with 8:47 to play in the first half. The lead remained in double figures for the remainder of the half, peaking at 48-28 with 2:42 to go following a basket from Richard Reed.

York scored the final five points of the period to trim the Bruin advantage to 13, 51-38, when the horn sounded for halftime.

The Panthers wasted little time erasing the remainder of the deficit as they opened the second half on a 20-4 run to take their first lead of the game. It was capped by a pair of Burnett free throws at the 14:03 mark as York went up 57-56.

The game stayed tight with York going up five on a three from Roc Johnson that made it 74-69 with 9:28 to play.

Bellevue answered with a 15-6 run to go up 84-80 with just 1:58 on the clock on a basket from Sequan Walker.

Those would be the last points Bellevue scored as the Bruins went 0-for-4 down the stretch, including a missed three-point attempt at the buzzer.

Josh Meier recorded a double-double, scoring 22 points on an efficient 10-of-14 shooting night and pulling down 10 rebounds.

Three other Bruins joined Meier in double figures. Sequan Walker scored 17 to go along with seven boards, Reed went for 13 off the bench, and Tynan Velasquez added 12 while making a team-high three treys.

Burnett scored a game-high 32 points on 11-of-14 shooting (4-of-6 from deep) and sank all six of his free throw attempts.

Aaron Munday-Rashid added 13 for the Panthers. Roc Johnson contributed nine of the bench while Andrew Stafford and Michael Tolbert each scored eight.

York edged Bellevue from the field 50.0-47.7 percent and the free throw line 70.6-65.0 percent while the Bruins out-did the Panthers from deep, 45.0-38.5 percent.

BU out-rebounded York 38-34 but turned the ball over 10 times to the Panthers' eight.

Up Next:

Bellevue is back in action tomorrow when they take on Friends University at the York Tip-Off Classic. Play is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. inside the Freeman Center.

Notes:

• Bellevue is now 7-4 in season-openers under 11^th-year head coach Shane Paben.
• Josh Meier became the first player to record a double-double in his Bruin debut since Chris Ashanti did so against Hastings on Oct. 30, 2015.