LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The No. 5 Bellarmine University men's basketball team continued its hot play this afternoon, rolling past the William Jewell College Cardinals 85-57 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in Knights Hall.
The Knights once again bolted out of the gates, hitting 15 of their first 20 shots en route to building a 43-28 halftime advantage. After the break, Bellarmine continued its solid play and outscored the visitors 42-29 in the second half.
The Bellarmine performance was simply a brilliant public display of why the Knights are ranked in the top 20 of every offensive category the NCAA tracks. The Bellarmine faithful in Knights Hall were treated to dazzling no-look passes, authoritative dunks, acrobatic blocked shots, and crisp ball movement.
The national shooting percentage leader (across all divisions of the NCAA and NAIA), Bellarmine actually improved on that statistic by hitting 58.9 percent from the floor. The Knights also did a solid job on defense holding the Cardinals to just 40.7 percent shooting from the field.
“(It was an) incredible basketball game,” said Bellarmine Coach
Scott Davenport. “This was a solid basketball team that we beat today. (Larry Holley) is a hall of fame level coach, and Nick Larson was an NAIA All American last year… so I'm incredibly ecstatic about our performance today,” Davenport added.
The Knights got solid play from all over the floor today as all five starters reached double figures, ranging from
Chris Dowe's 19 points to
Luke Sprague's 13. Bellarmine also was outstanding on the boards, outrebounding the Cardinals 34-22 with
Keisten Jones hauling in a game high eight.
Coach Davenport also pointed out the fact that
Braydon Hobbs (6) and
Jeremy Kendle (4) combined for 10 assists with no turnovers.
The Cardinals were led by 6-6 center Nick Larson. The WJC big man, who is listed at 290 pounds, put up 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and corralled seven rebounds.
The win, Bellarmine's sixth in a row, got the Knights to 11-1 on the season with a 3-1 conference mark. William Jewell falls to 4-6, 1-3.
Next up for the Knights is a road trip to visit Drury University on Thursday and Missouri S&T on Saturday.
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