Bruins season ends in overtime thriller in Round of 16

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Playing in historic Municipal Auditorium for the first time ever in the NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament Round of 16, the 14^th-seeded Bellevue University men's basketball team gave No. 2-seed Rocky Mountain College all they could handle before ultimately falling 78-73 in overtime on Friday evening.

Bellevue rallied from a 12-point second half deficit to take the lead in the final minutes before going to overtime.

Matching up for the third time this season, that familiarity was on full display in the Battle of the Bears was marked by physicality and defensive pressure from the outset.

With the win, Rocky improves to 31-3 on the season. They advance to the Quarterfinals tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. where they will meet 4^th-seeded Langston University. Bellevue concludes their 2025-26 campaign with an overall record 24-8.

How It Happened:

Both defenses were locked in for the opening minutes with the first points coming when Jermaine Haliburton stripped Mekhi Jourdan by midcourt for a breakaway layup. Rocky found some flow, running off the next eight points in 2:21 of game time before JJ Montgomery's three-pointer at the 14:15 mark halved the lead, 8-5, ahead of the first media timeout.

Mathok Mathok converted a pair of buckets as part of an 8-2 counter-run as Bellevue tied the game before Omari Nesbit hit a pair of jumpers for the Battlin' Bears. Haliburton countered with an old-fashioned three-point play around the media timeout to make it a 14-13 game with 8:57 left in the half.

Kade Erickson gave Rocky their biggest lead of the half, 27-19, with a three-pointer on a kick-out with 4:28 to play. RJ Smith responded with a put-back layup and Connor Mohr drilled a corner three off a Jaden Phillips steal on the defensive end cutting the lead to 27-24 at the 2:02 mark.

Elijah Sherwood hit a turnaround jumper in the paint and Haliburton added a driving layup in the final minute as Bellevue finally found a couple cracks in the Rocky defense and entered the half trailing 33-28.

Nesbit led all players with 11 at the break for Rocky while Carter McCoy and Royce Robinson added eight and seven, respectively. Haliburton paced the Bruins with seven at the break and Montgomery added five for BU in the opening 20 minutes.

Jacob Bilodeau and Robinson combined for the first 11 points for the Battlin' Bears before McCoy pushed the lead out to double figures for the first time at the 13:50 mark on the other side of the media timeout with a pair of free throws.

After Haliburton's layup at the 17:07 mark, Bellevue made just one field goal over the next 5:26 while Rocky began to pull away with an 11-2 scoring run, interrupted only by a tip-in from Smith, as they stretched their advantage to 48-36.

Montgomery hit a triple from the wing to end the drought and Phillips sandwiched a trey of his own from the opposite side around a layup from Robinson cutting the lead back down to eight, 50-42, with 9:10 to play.

After a pair of free throws from Phillips, Haliburton came up with another strip to set Montgomery up for an almost identical three from the wing. The Bruins got a stop and Montgomery knocked down a pair of free throws to cap a 13-2 run, making the score 50-49 with 5:53 remaining which is where the score remained at the final media timeout came with 4:38 left.

Smith gave the Bruins their first lead since 2-0 with a pair of free throws out of the media timeout giving Bellevue a 51-50 advantage. McCoy answered with a bucket at the other end before Haliburton and Robinson traded threes with Rocky going ahead 55-54 with 3:40 left to play.

Smith gave BU its largest lead of the game with a post move and layup with 2:20 to go, a 59-56 Bruin advantage. Mekhi Jourdan tied the game for Rocky with 44 seconds left with a three-pointer.

Haliburton's driving scoop layup with 18.6 gave Bellevue a 63-61 lead that Robinson answered with a circus shot at the other end with 5.7 on the clock.

BU got the ball across halfcourt and called a timeout with 2.2 seconds to get a final shot but Haliburton lost the ball on the way up and the game went to overtime.

Bellevue struck first in the extra period with a defensive stop and a corner three from Phillips. Nesbit hit two of three free throws after Phillips fouled out on the ensuing possession before a backdoor layup for McCoy and a pullup jumper put Rocky in front 69-66.

A stop for Rocky gave them the ball back and Nesbit found McCoy cutting for a dunk-and-one opportunity with 1:38 to play. McCoy made the free throw as the lead grew to 72-66.

After free throws from Robinson made it 74-66, Haliburton drove the lane for an and-one and Mathok knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game with 23.4 seconds remaining.

Jourdan, who had just missed two free throws knocked both down at the other end as Haliburton scored again for BU but Nesbit hit one of two free throws for Rocky with 11.1 to play and Robinson sank the second of two with 1.9 on the clock to account for the final margin.

Top Performers

Bellevue University

Jermaine Haliburton – 21 points (8-14 fg), 4-4 ft, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
RJ Smith – 15 points (6-11 fg), 3-4 ft, 11 rebounds (6 offensive)
JJ Montgomery – 13 points (4-9 fg), 3-7 3-fg, 2-2 ft, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

Rocky Mountain College

Royce Robinson – 24 points (8-16 fg), 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Carter McCoy – 19 points (7-9 fg) 5-6 ft, 10 rebounds
Omari Nesbit – 16 points (5-11 fg), 6-9 ft, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

Inside the Numbers

• The defenses combined to force 17 turnovers in the first half, nine for BU and eight for Rocky but each team had just five each between the second half and overtime
• All three meetings with Rocky were decided by five or fewer points
• Rocky out-shot Bellevue 48-43% overall
• BU went 7-21 from deep to Rocky's 4-17 long-range effort
• The Battlin' Bears attempted 32 free throws (20-32) to Bellevue's 16 (14-16)
• RMC out-rebounded BU 36-34 on the night
• Offensive boards were even at 13 apiece though second-chance points skewed 19-8 in favor of Rocky
• With the loss, Bellevue is now 6-7 all-time in the Sweet 16