Walters, Jimmies pull away from Bruins late at nationals

The safe bet on Friday in Omaha, Nebraska, was Great Plains Athletic Conference Player of the Year Mason Walters erupting for 30 points.

The wild card was whether or not University of Jamestown men's basketball was going to be able to shutdown Belleuve's Jemeil King and out-physical the Bruins.

Check and checkmate.

Walters scored 30, King scored seven, and the Jimmies defeated the Bruins 86-69 in the opening round of the NAIA tournament at Sokol Arena, outrebounding Bellevue 38-16.

The Jimmies advance and will play Louisiana State University Shreveport tomorrow at 2 p.m.

"The two main points were stopping King and beating them on the boards and not letting them get a lot of offensive rebounds," said UJ men's basketball coach Danny Neville. "I'm just super proud of our guys."

Bellevue fought back from 13 down in the second half, flipping on a 2-3 zone that began before the break in an effort to pack bodies in around Walters. But just when the Bruins clawed to within a point at 68-67 with 4:30 remaining in the game, the Jimmies threw water on the fire by finding Walters in the post.

Two of the 6-foot-9 sophomore's 30 kicked off a game-changing 13-0 run, which was aided by a technical foul called on the Bruins' bench that sent freshman Will Cordes to the foul line for a pair of freebies.

Cole Woodford later buried a 3-pointer to push UJ back out by double digits and senior forward Brady Birch capped the run with 1:55 remaining to play with two of his 16 points. The game was essentially decided, with Jamestown leading 81-67.

"We started hitting that high-low and that was really successful for us," Neville said. "I think it was us just kinda settling in.

"Like we've been saying for a month or so with this young group, when things get tight you gotta move the ball, you gotta get sides, and I know they were pressuring us and denying us. But you gotta do the work early, you gotta cut and at the end of the day you gotta get it into the GPAC player of the year."

Walters scored his 30 on 14 of 17 from the field. Like every team in the GPAC found out this season, the Bruins were dealing with a monster they couldn't stop.

"They threw that 2-3 zone at us and it kinda shook us there a little bit, but then we just adjusted, settled down and then just kinda went on that run right when we needed it," Walters said. "Obviously, we've got a lot of younger players but we just wanted to come out confident and just play our game."

The Jimmies could've kicked down the door in the first half, but misfired on seven 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes as the Bruins stuffed the lane. Guards Marc Kjos and Cordes combined for three triples, but the Jimmies led just 33-29 at the half.

The Bruins never got going from the perimeter. Bellevue didn't convert a 3 until nearly 23 minutes had gone by in the game, finishing 5 of 20 from distance. The Jimmies shot 65% from the field, with Birch firing in 6 of 6 from close range and Woodford breaking the zone going 3-for-3 with two triples and nine points.

"They hadn't shown zone very much this year, so we were prepared for it but we didn't spend a whole lot of time on it," Neville said. "In the first half we didn't really move the ball as well as I would've liked, but we talked about it at halftime and I thought we fixed it."

Cordes, Kjos and Devan Praska all took turns chasing King, a 6-5 senior guard averaging 15 points per night, around the court. King converted a 3-pointer in the second half with the Bruins trailing by three but was otherwise suffocated by Jimmie orange.

"That was our game plan, to stop him and let others beat us," Neville said.

Eric Pierce and Isaiah Bates led the Bruins scoring 20 and 18, respectively.

On the glass, Bellevue was already playing shorthanded with centers Justin Motley and Vaj Rice, who combine to produce around eight boards per night, inactive due to COVID-19 protocol. Praksa and Walters each finished with seven rebounds to lead the Jimmies in that department.

Neville said LSU Shreveport (16-1), the Jimmies' opponent Saturday, is similar in style to Bellevue.

"They're dynamic, they're athletic," Neville said. "They're probably gonna try to do the same thing and try to pressure us and deny stuff. I think it'll be a little bit of an adjustment for tomorrow, but I think this game really prepared us for that."

Ranked third in the NAIA, the Pilots are the champions of the Red River Athletic Conference and are making a 17th consecutive appearance in the national tournament.

"Obviously, they're ranked high for a reason," Walters said. "We're going to watch film here and we'll be ready to go tomorrow."

NAIA Tournament Opening Round

(RV) University of Jamestown 86, Bellevue University 69

BU 29 40 -- 69

UJ 33 53 -- 86

BU -- Eric Pierce 20, Isaiah Bates 18, Vinny Belcaster 11, Jemeil King 7, Jaylen Wiltz 6, Paulo Araujo 5, Martis Johnson 2. Totals: 26-61 FG, 5-20 3-pointers (Belcaster, Pierce, Wiltz, Araujo, King), 6-8 FG, 16 Rebounds (Bates 3, Pierce 3, King 3), 7 Assists (King 3), 19 Fouls (Bates), 12 Steals (Pierce 3), 8 Turnovers, 1 Block (Bates).

UJ -- Mason Walters 30, Brady Birch 16, Marc Kjos 12, Will Cordes 9, Cole Woodford 9, Brock Schrom 5, Jack Talley 3, Devan Praska 2. Totals: 32-51 FG, 8-19 3-pointers (Kjos 4, Woodford 2, Cordes, Talley), 14-20 FT, 38 Rebounds (Praska 7, Walters 7), 23 Assists (Birch 6), 9 Fouls, 4 Steals (Walters 2), 19 Turnovers, 3 Blocks (Birch 2, Schrom).

Records: University of Jamestown 20-8. Bellevue University 20-14.