WHEELING, W.V.—The No. 5 Bellarmine University Knights closed out the first half on a 16-3 run to take an 11-point halftime lead and went to post a 91-78 road victory over the Wheeling Jesuit Cardinals tonight in a non-conference game at the Alma Grace McDonough Center.

The Knights (9-1)  got a career performance from sophomore Keisten Jones, who led all scorers with 27 points.  The Ballard High School graduate hit eight of 11 field goals including four of five from long range and drained all seven of his free throws.

Also having big nights for Bellarmine were junior Chris Dowe and senior Braydon Hobbs as all five starters scored in double digits.  Hobbs recorded his second double-double of the year with 14 points and 12 assists, and Dowe just missed with 21 points and a game high nine rebounds. 

“Wheeling Jesuit is a well-coached, tough basketball team,” said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport, “so this was a tough challenge. But short of giving up 50 percent shooting in the second half, I thought we had an outstanding night top to bottom.”

With both teams entering the contest ranked among the nation's top 15 in terms of shooting accuracy, the first 7:37 of the game did not disappoint the fans expecting a shootout as the teams combined to hit 13 of 20 shots for 65 percent.

As a result of the hot shooting, the game was close until Bellarmine broke it open with just over five minutes remaining.  Bellarmine clamped down on defense and played turnover-free basketball the last 6:01 of the first half.

The Knights exploded for a quick 12-0 run as two Jones field goals were sandwiched around two treys and a follow basket by Dowe. 

Wheeling Jesuit's Recardo Gaddy connected on a three to stop the run, but Jones answered with two free throws for Bellarmine. After the Knights' defense forced a shot clock violation on the Cardinals' ensuing possession, Bellarmine held for the last shot and Hobbs nailed a runner at the buzzer to give BU a 41-30 halftime advantage.

After making six of their first nine buckets, the Cardinals cooled to just 40 percent shooting (12-30) in the opening period while the Knights showed why they are  nation's top-shooting team by connecting on 57.1 percent.

In the second period, Bellarmine stayed hot and a rare 4-point play by Jones extended the Knights' lead to 58-39 at the 14:31 mark.  The Cardinals turned up the defense, however, and the Knights committed eight second half turnovers as the home team whittled the lead into single digits with 1:49 remaining. 

Wheeling Jesuit could get no closer than nine; however, as Bellarmine stayed calm and hit six of six free throws down the stretch to salt the game away and post the 13-point victory.
The Knights actually shot better in the second period, making 16 of 24 field goals (66.7%) and finished shooting 61.5 percent for the game.

Bellarmine wins their fourth in a row to move to 9-1 on the season while Cardinals fall to 6-4.

The game was the Knights' last action of calendar year 2011 as tomorrow starts an NCAA Division II-mandated 7-day holiday break.  Bellarmine will start back to practice on Dec. 26 before resuming game action on Jan. 5 with a home game against Rockhurst at 8 p.m.  From this point on, Bellarmine will play only Great Lakes Valley Conference games.

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