ALLENDALE, Mich.—The No. 1 Bellarmine University men's basketball team went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the game's final minute to hold off a game effort from the host Grand Valley State Lakers and secure a 70-67 victory this afternoon in an NCAA Division II non-conference game.

 After building a 15-point first half lead, the Knights had to fight tooth and nail to pull out the win thanks to a 13-1 run by the Lakers to start the second half.  The spurt gave Grand Valley a 44-43 lead at the 16:47 mark until Bellarmine finally re-asserted itself with back to back layups by Richie Phares.

Grand Valley wrestled the lead away from the Knights just one more time when Brelend Hogan drove the lane for a layup and was fouled at the 3:59 mark.  Hogan's ensuing free throw put the Lakers up 63-62. After empty possessions by both teams, Phares got a nice feed from Jeremy Kendle and converted a layup to give the Knights the lead for good at 64-63.

Down the stretch, Bellarmine showed the poise of a champion, clamping down the defense to force GVSU into some tough looks and hitting all of their crucial free throws.  

“Other than the 1st five-minute segment (of the second half), we played very, very well in a tough environment.” Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said. “Our late game execution was absolutely tremendous.”

“This was a phenomenal win,” Davenport said.  “This team (Grand Valley) was preseason number two in the GLIAC; they're an NCAA team with a great tradition. We got their best shot, so I'm very proud of guys.”

The game started slowly with neither team finding its rhythm until the Knights stared to pull away about midway through the first half.  Bellarmine extended a 2-point at the 10:29 mark to a 33-18 advantage when Phares nailed a 3-pointer at the 3:43 mark.  

Just moments before, Chris Dowe provided the highlight of the game when he soared in from the left side to rebound a missed 3-pointer and caught the ball at its highest point as it caromed  off the back iron and threw down a thunderous dunk that even the home Grand Valley State crowd seemed to appreciate.

Grand Valley refused to go quietly as Josh Anderson (son of former NBAer Nick Anderson) hit three, 3-pointers over the last 2:05 of the opening period to pull the Lakers within eight.  

Dowe provided one more highlight in the first half, however, beating the buzzer with a three off a 180-degree spin to make it 42-31 at the half.

Over the first 20 minutes, Bellarmine enjoyed 56 percent shooting including a 7-for-14 performance from behind the 3-point line and ruled the boards 15-10.

The second half was a different story, however. Grand Valley's Ryan Sabin hit a trey just 13 seconds into the period.  After Kendle missed a short jumper, Sabin connected again from long range.  That exchange was followed by another Bellarmine miss and an old-fashioned 3-point play from James Thomas to get the Lakers within a deuce just 1:41 into the second period. 

Sabin tied the game at the 17:19 mark with a layup, and after Dowe converted just one of two free throws, Anderson connected on a jumper to give Grand Valley their first lead since the 13:06 mark of the first half.

Kendle led all scorers with 18 points, and his backcourt running mates—Braydon Hobbs and Dowe—each contributed 15.  Phares reached double figures for this first time in his brief Bellarmine career, netting 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and converting both free throws on a crucial one and one situation late in the game.

Grand Valley was paced by Anderson and Hogan, who each scored 14.
Bellarmine hit just one of 10 second half 3-point attempts and went just 10-of-24 in the final period from the field to finish at 49 percent for the game.  The Knights made up for their poor shooting from the field by being nearly perfect at the free throw line—hitting 14-of-15 for the game.

The home team shot 51.9 percent for the game, hitting seven of 17 3-pointers, and GVSU went 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Bellarmine improves to 3-0, while Grand Valley slips to 1-1 on the season.

BOX SCORE

The Knights return to action next Friday and Saturday in the Bill Joergens Memorial Classic hosted by the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville.  The Knights' opening opponent will be Indiana University-Southeast with a start time of 5:15 p.m. (CST). On Saturday, Bellarmine will take on Malone in a 1 p.m. (CST) game.  

Both opponents will pose significant challenges for the Knights. IU Southeast put up 51 3-pointers in their first game of the year, and Malone has already knocked off a top 10 Division II team. On Nov. 15, Malone beat No. 7 Findlay 74-71 in Findlay's Croy Gymnasium, snapping the Oilers' 71-game home winning streak.