LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Bellarmine came out blazing against North Alabama, giving the visitors a dose of their own three-point medicine at Freedom Hall, then held on as the Lions rallied in the final seven minutes before emerging with a 68-60 win.
What you need to know about the Knights' 10th win against eight losses. Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell was among those in attendance for the game, and spoke to the Knights in the locker room afterward.
WHY IT MATTERS: The win was Bellarmine's fourth straight and puts the Knights (10-8, 4-0) atop the ASUN's West Division. Their regular-season ASUN record all-time is now 14-3, and they've won 14 of their last 15 in regular-season league play, dating back to last season. Since losing at home to Loyola Marymount on Dec. 21, Bellarmine hasn't lost a game, and could to complete a calendar month unbeaten (with two COVID postponements) with another home-court win on Saturday.
WHO PLAYED WELL: Dylan Penn was coming off back-to-back big scoring games but picked up his second foul early in Tuesday's contest and went to the bench. He didn't come back until the final minute of the first half, when he scored at the buzzer. He then scored 16 in the second half for his third straight game at or above the 20-point mark. The Knights got 14 points – a career high – from New Albany product Juston Betz, who also pulled down 10 rebounds. CJ Fleming got Bellarmine off to a hot start with a pair of early threes (they made 7 of their first 8 shots) and finished with 10 points.
Thanks for the shoutout @JayBilas! pic.twitter.com/ob7ST9P60Q
— Bellarmine Men’s Basketball (@BUKnightsMBB) January 18, 2022
WHAT HAPPENED: Bellarmine made 5 straight three-pointers early and opened a 21-6 lead. The Knights extended that to 20 points at 55-35 with 8:36 left, then North Alabama's Daniel Ortiz led a late rally, scoring 11 points in a 6-minute stretch to help the Lions close within 4 at 60-56 with 1:37 left. Then Penn took a three-quarter court inbound pass against the press from Ethan Claycomb and scored, and Betz grabbed a big defensive rebound at the other end and made both free-throws after being fouled, and North Alabama couldn't get closer than 6 points the rest of the way.
WATCHING THE STAT SHEET: Bellarmine was just 10 of 18 from the free-throw line for the game's first 38 minutes, then went 6-for-6 with the game on the line.
WHO SAID WHAT: From Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport, via his postgame radio interview with play-by-play man Doug Ormay and analyst Mark Bugg, "The one thing that is great about tonight is we had so many late-game situations to learn from. You know, it's a two-possession game and you've got to get it inbounds, two-possession game and you've got to get it inbounds from a spot. You've got to hit free throws. You've got to switch out to shooters. The five threes they hit the second half enabled their run, but the last war (four-minute segment) I don't think they hit any, might've hit one. But that's the difference in the game. In my opinion, I loved it. From a teaching standpoint, I loved it. . . . And our execution was very, very, very good."
WHO'S NEXT: Bellarmine is back in Freedom Hall for a game against Jacksonville State on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Gamecocks fell out of a first-place tie with Bellarmine in the West Division with an 88-49 loss at Liberty on Tuesday. They're 11-5 in the season, 3-1 in the ASUN.
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