OWENSBORO, Ky.—Luke Sprague's pair of three pointers with under two minutes left gave the No. 19 Bellarmine University men's basketball team a finishing spark in a 70-66 victory over Central State (Ohio) University in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Division II Regional Tournament on Saturday evening at the Sportscenter.

Sprague's daggers gave the Knights a 69-63 advantage with 1:09 to play.  The Marauders cut the deficit to three points with a Robert Harris three-point play with 47 seconds remaining, and had a chance to tie the game after a missed Bellarmine free throw, but BU's Oladapo Fagbenle swiped a loose ball from Harris to seal the contest.

“What I'm most proud of is fighting through and advancing when we did not play our best,” Bellarmine Head Coach Scott Davenport said.  “A lot of that had to do with Central State.  They were a very good basketball team, and probably the most athletic team we played so far.”

With the win, Bellarmine advances to Sunday's semifinal against Quincy University, with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.  Quincy defeated Drury University 71-58 in the first game of the day.

Jeremy Kendle and Justin Benedetti each had 16 points to lead Bellarmine in scoring, while Kendle took top honors in assists (seven).  Nick Holmes pulled down six rebounds, tying for the game high with Central State's Damone Pledger.

Benedetti made three of his six three-point attempts, including a buzzer-beater from 26 feet to send the game into halftime tied at 28.

Bellarmine was outrebounded 33-22 for the game, but committed only three second half turnovers.

Central State's Cole Prophet led all scorers with 19 points off 7-of-15 shooting, and also led the Marauders with six assists.

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