Furious BU rally falls short against #4 Langston at Thanksgiving Classic

FREMONT, Neb. -- After nearly erasing a 15-point deficit in the final five minutes, running off 12-straight points, the Bellevue University men's basketball team fell just short against fourth-ranked Langston University 69-64 in the first game of the Midland University Thanksgiving Classic.

Langston, a 30-win team a season ago, remains unbeaten as the Lions improve to 4-0 while Bellevue slips to 2-7.

High-intensity, physical defense defined the opening minutes of the game as both teams were very active in the passing lanes with nothing coming easily for either offense.

The Lions led 11-4 following free throw by Toru Dean but three-straight treys from Caleb Chiang pulled Bellevue withing a point, 14-13. Following a defensive stop, TJ Fritz gave the Bruins their first lead of the game hitting a contested three from the wing.

A 6-0 run from Langston followed as the Lions his four-straight free throws to grab a 20-16 lead at the 9:14 mark. Once again Bellevue answered with a run of their own as Jaden Phillips scored a layup off a Jerome Bynum steal to give BU a 23-22 lead.

The BU lead was again short-lived as the Bruins were hit with a technical as Langston scored four points in seven seconds.

Bellevue regained the lead just inside the five-minute mark as Fritz buried a three-pointer for a 30-29 lead before the Lions closed the half on a 12-7 spurt to take a 41-38 lead into halftime.

Fritz, Chiang, and Makeem Loudermill combined for 28 points to power the Bruins who shot 59% in the first half but turned the ball over 10 times. Langston was led by Anthony Roy's 10 points at the break as six different players balanced the scoring for the Lions who turned it over just six times.

The Bruins were buoyed by a 5-of-10 effort from deep and shot 7-of-9 from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes. Langston, conversely hit on just 2-of-9 from three but sank 13-of-15 free throw attempts.

Much like the start to the first half, the opening minutes of the second saw both teams struggle to get much going offensively with just four points scored in the first 3:39 but Langston found some rhythm, rattling off seven points to grab their largest lead of the game, 50-42 at the 15:20 mark.

Langston's lead hovered in the 4-8 point range until D'monte Brown put back his own miss putting the Lions ahead 58-48 with 8:08 to play.

The lead for Langston would swell to 15 before Emarr Vinson, making his season and Bruin debut, dropped stepped into an and-one for his first points with 5:10 remaining in the game.

That play by Vinson kicked off a 12-0 BU run that made it just a five-point game with 37 seconds left when Bynum drove the lane and laid the ball off the glass and in.

Dean finally interrupted the Bruin run with a free throw with 8.7 seconds left. Bellevue collected the rebound off the miss of the second but Christian Carter was whistled for a charge on a dish with 2.8 seconds to play.

Fritz led a balanced Bruin scoring attach with 14 points as five others scored at least six on the afternoon. Phillips and Chiang scored nine each, Bynum added eight, Loudermill pumped in seven, and Liam Thompson chipped in six while Carter led the way with six rebounds.

Langston received 14 points each from Roy and Dean as four Lions scored in double figures with Brown adding 13, along with a game-high nine rebounds, and Cortez Mosley tossing in 11.

Bellevue wraps up play in the Midland University Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow at 3 p.m. against host Midland (1-4) from the Wikert Event Center.