LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The No. 4 Bellarmine University men's basketball team used a second half surge to take down the Wayne State Warriors 87-73 on Sunday afternoon. Senior guard Jeremy Kendle led the charge with a game high 25 points.

The Knights (1-0) were slow to get out of the gates and trailed 8-1 three minutes into the game. Bellarmine stayed in the game thanks to tough defense and getting to the free throw stripe where they went 18-23 in the half including 4-4 by Kendle.

After a rugged, tough first half Bellarmine went into the break up 37-36.

In the second half, the Bellarmine offense kicked into high gear as the Knights hit three 3-pointers in a row, one each by Justin Benedetti, Luke Sprague, and Braydon Hobbs to stretch the lead to double digits.

The Knights torched the nets for 50 points in the second half 51.4 percent shooting from the field.

Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport praised his team's toughness in a very physical game. “Individually we aren't a great rebounding team, but as a team we did great. Our five starters combined for 31 rebounds but none of them had more than seven.”

The Knights' defense also started to clamp down on Wayne State's Bryan Smothers, who was held to just 8 points on 2-7 shooting in the second half after notching 15 points in the opening period.

The win was a team effort as the Knights got 26 points from their bench, led by Chris Dowe's 13. “This win was not because of special plays, but by special players,” said Davenport. “Wayne State (2-1) has already beaten two quality teams and since this is a regional win, it makes it important come tournament time.”

Bellarmine also distributed the ball well as they had 17 assists on 28 field goals, as opposed to the Warriors who had only four assists all game.

The Knights will now travel to Institute, West Virginia next weekend as they face West Virginia State in the opening game of the John Dickensheets Classic.

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