LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The No. 4 Bellarmine Knights shut down the Drury Panthers over the last two and half minutes to score the game's final nine points and pull out a 85-75 victory in a hard-fought Great Lakes Valley Conference game in Knights Hall on Thursday night.

After trailing at halftime 38-31, Bellarmine re-asserted themselves quickly in the second period and tied the game at 41 as Justin Benedetti converted an old-fashioned 3-point play just 3:04 into the second stanza. From that point on, the game was tightly contested until the Knights pulled away at the end.

"Our late game execution was phenomenal because we kept attacking and kept passing," Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said. "It's tough to single anybody out tonight, because if you're going to do that you're going to need two sheets of paper, because you have to talk about them all."

In terms of point production, Jeremy Kendle led the way with 19 points, and he was joined in double figures by Braydon Hobbs (16), Nick Holmes (14) and Chris Dowe (12). 

It Hobbs, however, who made the big plays coming down the stretch. In the final two and a half minutes The New Albany junior drained a 3-pointer to put the Knights up by five, dished off an assist on another three point play, blocked a shot, made a steal, and induced a traveling violation. 

The Knights (12-1, 5-0 GLVC) had a cold-shooting first half, making just 11 of 34 attempts for 32.4 percent. The home team heated up in the final period, however, and made 18 of 29 second half shots to shoot 62 percent in the half and finish the game at a respectable 46 percent.

Meanwhile, the Panthers (9-3, 2-2 GLVC) had the opposite game--at least from 3-point range.  Drury made five of 12 first half threes, but were 0-6 in the final period.

The Knights also did a good job of bottling up sharpshooter Alex Hall, who came into the contest averaging 21 points a game and leading the conference in 3-pointers made.  Bellarmine used multiple defenders on last year's GLVC Freshman of the Year and held him to just 3-11 shooting, including 2-7 from three point range.

"Our game plan was to keep a fresh body on him (Hall) at all times," Davenport said. "You watch that kid on tape, and you would be astounded. If you watched our edit, you'd think you were watching Pistol Pete."

Players and coaches alike attributed the boisterous, near sell-out crowd for helping provide a lift. "They (the fans) were unbelievable," said Kendle. "It was the first day of school and (the students) were ready to go." 

Hobbs said, "I felt energized by the crowd.  It's the best feeling I've ever had here.  They were definitely loud." 

Bellarmine gets little time to celebrate the victory, however, as the Knights host Rockhurst at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.  It will be Bellarmine's sixth game in just 10 days.

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