LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – This could have been one of those days. The top-ranked Bellarmine University basketball team, hitting the road for a game against a Maryville team with a losing record on the season, couldn’t hit a lot of shots it generally makes in falling to an 11-point second-half deficit.
Some days you just don’t have it. Maryville, meanwhile, had it. The Saints shot 70 percent in the second half and had momentum for most of the game.
Every team has games like this one. Not every team wins them.
The Knights clawed back from their deficits – including a four-point deficit with a minute and a half to play – to hold off Maryville 89-83 in overtime. Bellarmine improved to 13-0 with the win, 3-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Maryville fell to 5-8, 0-4.
“My message to the team after the game was do not forget January 5th,” Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport said. "When things were not going your way, and you hung together and defended.”
The Knights got big late threes from C.J. Fleming and Tyler Jenkins. In overtime, they got several late stops, and went 6-6 from the free-throw line in the final 24 seconds.
Adam Eberhard led the Knights with 26 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Bellarmine also got 21 points from Chivarsky Corbett. Jenkins added 15 points.
“That was one whale of a basketball game," Davenport said. "You have to give Maryville a lot of credit. They shot an even 70 percent in the second half, and some those they hit we couldn't have defended any better.”
Bellarmine shot 56.2 percent from the field and outrebounded Maryville 33-22. The Knights return to play Thursday night at home against Quincy. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
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