Bruins slug out 49-38 win at Montana Tech
BUTTE, Mont. -- RJ Smith posted his fifth double-double of the season to lead the Bellevue University men's basketball team to a 49-38 win over Montana Technological University on Friday evening in arguably the most physical game of the season.
Bellevue improves to 20-5 on the year and 15-4 in Frontier Conference play to remain tied with Carroll College for second in the league standings, though BU owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. The loss drops Montana Tech to 18-7 on the season and 12-7 in the Frontier Conference.
The win secures the 23rd 20-win season in BU program history, all coming since 1998-99, and the fourth in seven seasons under head coach Lucas Gabriel.
How It Happened:
Offense was at a premium throughout the evening and was especially evident in the early going. Bellevue led 4-3 at the first media timeout and held Tech without a field goal until Ethan Venema came off the bench to give the Orediggers a 5-4 lead with a layup at the 14-minute mark.
Tech pushed their lead to five when Hayden Diekhans found Rhett Reynolds cutting through the lane for a dunk and the Orediggers' worked their lead to as many as six on two occasions.
JJ Montgomery canned a corner three after the Orediggers' stretched their team a second time and RJ Smith scored consecutive buckets to cap a 7-0 Bruin run and give Bellevue the lead, 20-19 with 4:01 remaining.
Venema countered with a trey and Josh Coulanges added a layup to put Tech in front by four before the Bruins scored the final three points off the half, holding Montana Tech without a point for the final 3:17, and trail just 24-23 at the break.
Bellevue found some offensive rhythm, putting together the only true run of the game as they opened the second half on a 16-3 run to take a commanding 39-27 lead on a free throw from Jermaine Haliburton at the 12:28 mark.
Haliburton's free throw capped a 10-0 scoring run over 3:46 of game time, kicked off by a three from the win by Jaden Phillips.
Just 11 combined points were scored over the next eight minutes with Montgomery's reverse layup giving the Bruins a 13-point lead. Smith scored on a put back with 2:10 to play to give BU its largest lead of the game, 15 points, 49-34.
After Coulanges made a layup with 3:17 to play in the first half, Tech went just 3-29 (10%) from the floor over the next 23:08 until Connor Michaud knocked down a triple seconds before the final horn sounded.
Despite the physicality, the officials let the teams play with 28 fouls called and the host Orediggers whistled for just 10 while holding an 18-8 advantage in free throw attempts.
Top Performers
Bellevue University:
RJ Smith – 14 points (7-8 FG), 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals
Ahamad Bynum – 9 points, 4 rebounds
Jaden Phillips – 7 points, career-high 8 rebounds
Liam Thompson – 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks
Jermaine Haliburton – 4 points, 6 assists, 1 steal
Montana Tech:
Ethan Venema – 9 points (3-9 FG), 2-4 3-FG, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Josh Coulanges – 6 points (2-7 FG), 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Hayden Diekhans – 6 points (1-6 FG), 4-4 FT, 2 rebounds, 3 blocks
Inside the Numbers
- Montana Tech's 38 points are the fewest allowed by Bellevue against an NAIA opponent since holding Doane to just 37 back on Oct. 30, 2020. It's the fewest allowed by a BU team on the road since limiting Central Christian to 32 on Feb. 17, 2007.
- Bellevue out-rebounded Montana Tech 52-33 on the night, snagging 21 offensive boards en route to a 16-0 advantage in second chance points.
- BU limited Tech to just 14 points on 4-27 (15%) field goals in the second half, the last of which came in the final seconds.
- The Bruins dominated the paint with a 34-18 scoring advantage to off-set the Orediggers' 22-8 edge in bench points.
Up Next:
Bellevue heads to Dillon, Mont. tomorrow evening for a 6 p.m. tip against the University of Montana Western from Straugh Gymnasium.