MOORHEAD, MN – Joel Nelson and JR Cison combined to score 31 points in the second half leading the Valley City State Vikings to a 85-81, come-from-behind win over Frontier Conference leader (RV) Bellevue in Men's basketball Saturday at Concordia College.

The Vikings are 9-12 overall and 5-11 in the Frontier Conference. The Bruins fall to 18-4 overall and 13-3 in the conference.

The first half was back and forth with the largest lead for either team being four points. There were nine lead changes and ten ties in the first 20 minutes of the game. The biggest lead for Bellevue in the half came early when Ahamad Bynum hit a three-pointer to give the Bruins their first lead at 11-8 with 16:03 to go in the first half.


The Vikings biggest lead of the half was four points. That came after Alex Lester made two free throws to cap a 6-0 Viking run to make it 25-21 with 9:36 to go in the first half. The teams would go back and forth for several minutes until the Vikings went on another 6-0 run to take that four-point lead back. A basket by Kaleb Larson made it 35-31 Vikings with 3:32 to go in the first half.

Bellevue would go on an 8-1 run to take a 39-36 lead with 47 seconds to go in the half. A putback bucket by Caden Grinde with 24 seconds to go make the halftime score 39-38 Bellevue.

The second half was very much like the first half, eleven lead changes and seven ties. The biggest lead for Bellevue came early in the half when Deng Jal scored to make it 45-41 Bruins with 17:02 to go in the second half. At one point in the half, four lead changes happened on four baskets. After two free throws by JJ Montgomery gave the Bruins a 76-75 lead with 3:16 to go in the second half, the Vikings went on an 8-0 run to take a seven-point lead, the biggest of the game for either team.

The Bruins made things interesting with a 5-1 run to cut the lead to three. A three-pointer of by Liam Thompson made it 84-81 VCSU with 8.1 seconds to go in the half. After Taylor Bryant-Frey missed the front end of a 1 and 1, the Bruins had a chance to tie. But before they could a shot of RJ Smith was fouled with 1.7 seconds to go. He missed the front end of the 1 and 1, Alex Lester grabbed the rebounds and was fouled. He made 1 of 2 free throws with .7 seconds to go to seal the win.

JR Cison led the Vikings with 20 points, 17 in the second half. He added eight assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Joel Nelson scored 14 of his 19 points in the second 20 minutes and added six rebounds. Kaleb Larson was also in double figures with twelve points. Taylor Bryant-Frey and Caden Grinde had eight points each. Alex Lester had seven, Logan Deal had six, and Jaelyn Johnson chipped in five.

UP NEXT: The Vikings hit the road again, this time they are the visitors when they head to Montana for games at the University of Providence and Montana Tech next Friday and Saturday respectively.