DURHAM, N.C.—The Bellarmine University men's basketball team opened their 2011-12 basketball with an 87-62 exhibition loss to the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“There's no negatives from tonight,” said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. “We'll learn a lot from tonight.  This has been a great experience and everything and everybody from Duke has been nothing but first class.”

After putting up a good fight in the first half, the Knights couldn't keep pace with the Blue Devils who shot 64.3 percent in the second half to pull away.

Bellarmine drew first blood when Braydon Hobbs hit a short jumper in the lane after a steal and a dish by Chris Dowe. 

The host Blue Devils then went on a 9-0 run to go into the first media timeout with a 9-2 lead.  “I thought we played well to start the game,” said Davenport.  “We just missed shots.”

Duke extended its lead to 15 before the Knights reeled off seven straight to cut it to 22-14 at the 9:01 mark.  Bellarmine continued to whittle away at the Duke lead, trimming it to just one at 32-31 with 2:24 in the opening period.

As the half came to a close, Bellarmine held for the last shot, but Richie Phares's layup with less than four seconds remaining was blocked and the Blue Devils took it coast to coast as Tyler Thornton converted a layup as time expired to give Duke a 38-33 halftime lead.

The second period was pretty much all Duke as the Knights failed to get any closer than five, and the Blue Devils kept extending their lead.  In fact, the final margin—25 points—was Duke's largest lead of the night.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “It was good for us to play (Bellarmine).  They are the defending DII national champion, and they're good.  We beat a good team tonight.  They should have another good season this year.”

Both teams placed five players in double figures with Duke's Seth Curry leading all scorers with 18.  The Knights were led by Luke Sprague and Jeremy Kendle, who both put up 13 on the night.  Also cracking double digits were Chris Dowe (12), Keisten Jones (11) and Braydon Hobbs (10).

Bellarmine was outrebounded by the much taller Duke squad 43-24 with the Knights' leading rebounders coming from the backcourt with Kendle and Hobbs both pulling down four boards.

The Knights are back in action Thursday night, squaring off against the No.8 Louisville Cardinals in another exhibition game.  Tip at the KFC Yum! Center is 7 p.m

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