LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – If there’s a better 3-point shooter in the country than Liberty’s Darius McGhee, the Bellarmine basketball team isn’t interested in seeing him.
The 3-time ASUN Conference player of the year torched the Knights with 8 first-half 3-pointers and 26 points on his way to a 29-point performance to end Bellarmine’s season with a 76-56 victory in the quarterfinals of the ASUN Tournament in Lynchburg, Va., Tuesday night.
"I've coached for a long time, at every level," Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport said on his ESPN 680 D. Scott Neal postgame interview with Doug Ormay. "We coached against Dwyane Wade at Louisville, I coached Allan Houston. I've never seen a player do what Darius McGhee did. . . . He shot going sideways, we threw stuff at him, he wasn't missing. Give them credit."
The Knights finish the season at 14-18, having struggled through conference play after losing starting forward Bash Wieland and top reserve Jake Thelen midway through the season. The Knights’ sixth-year captain, Juston Betz, played with limited practice time to protect a recovering labrum, and he wasn't the only injured player who fought through it.
In the final timeout huddle, Davenport said Betz looked at his teammates and said, "I'm looking at how many minutes are left, you guys are all looking at years. Learn from this."
Through it all, Bellarmine remained competitive, but it had no answers for McGhee, who ranks No. 2 in college basketball history for 3-pointers made in a career.
Without an NCAA Tournament to help recruit, Knights’ coach Scott Davenport still managed to have 40 percent of the ASUN’s All-Freshman team, with Ben Johnson and Peter Suder both making the team.
That pair had 10 points each against Liberty. Alec Pfreim had a team-best 13 points and Garrett Tipton added 12 for the Knights.
"We let them go back-door three times in the first half and had some bad turnovers," Davenport said. "But we shot 59 percent in the first half and went into the locker room down 17. I don't think I've ever had that happen. . . . We're disappointed, but it's a great locker room in there. I'm proud of our guys, and wouldn't be any more proud if we'd won by 20 tonight."
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