Box Score MAYVILLE, ND – Coming off a close loss on Friday night, the MSU Comets had to face another conference foe in the visiting Bellevue Bruins. Facing the top team in the conference standings, the Comets had a tough task ahead for them.

Bellevue got on the board first with a field goal, but the Comets got busy with their shooting and went on a 14-5 run, with Gorg Alhag scoring half of those in that stretch. The Bruins fought back and chipped away at the Comets' lead. They held a slim margin at the point of the media timeout, up 21-19 with 9:52 to go.

After a couple lead changes, the score became tied up at 28 points. From that point, Cameron Epps and Creighton Pfau teamed up for a 6-point effort together and grew the team's lead to six. The Bruins kept fighting away, going on an 8-2 run to tie things up at 36 as the half was winding down. A lone free throw for the Bruins put them on top with the slim 1-point lead, 37-36. Cameron Epps and Gorg Alhag were the big contributors for the Comets thus far, Epps having twelve points and Alhag with eleven, each shooting 50% from the field. 

The competitive battle continued throughout the second half, as each team seemed to answer back in quiet surges. The game became tied up quickly at 39 after a Daymarcco Green 3-pointer, then the margins stayed slim throughout the game.  The game was tied up six times in the half and saw the leads change nine times total. As each team pushed the limit to a tie, it came down to the final minutes of the game. BJ Shelton for the Bruins took control for his team once the score was tied at 70 each. He drained some key free throws and a bucket to end up lifting their lead to five, 76-71. The Comets fired back with Green's 2nd three of the half to drop the deficit to two with only 32.3 seconds left to play. More free throws for the Bruins would seal it, as the Comets were unable to get a shot in the final seconds. The Bruins came away with a key victory for them in the conference, 79 to 74. 

Leading all scorers was BJ Shelton for the Bruins with 22. He was followed on his team by Jalen Hall with ten, plus seven other Bruins contributing points in the game. For the Comets, Cameron Epps led the team with 17, including three 3-pointers. Gorg Alhag was close behind him with 15, going 4-4 on free throws. Leading in rebounds for the Comets was Eric Staebler with eight, as well as having nine points for almost hitting a double-double night. 

It was a very evenly matched effort in all categories of stats: The Bruins won the rebound battle, 36 to 34. The Comets had nine turnovers to the Bruins seven. Both teams shot 60 shots or more from the field, with the Bruins shooting 27 of 60 for 45%, while the Comets shot 44% by going 28 of 64. The Comets shot slightly better than the Bruins in 3-point field goals, going 7-22 to the Bruins' 5 of 18. Going to the line was a big factor for the Bruins, as they took 28 trips there and sunk 20 of them, compared to 11 for 16 from the Comets. 

The remaining games for the Comets will be next weekend against Viterbo and Waldorf on the road on Feb 16th and 17th.