Box Score CINCINNATI, Ohio—The Bellarmine University men's basketball team turned in a gutsy performance, but fell 84-72 to the Cincinnati Bearcats in an exhibition game at Fifth Third Arena  to open the 2013-14 season.

The Knights bolted out of the gates by hitting five of their first six 3-pointers and led almost the entire first half.  However, the Bearcat defensive pressure starting paying dividends, and the home squad took their first lead of the game at the 3:31 mark of the first half.  Bellarmine had a chance to go into the locker room with the lead but misfired on a pair of treys in their last possession, and Cincinnati took a 37-36 halftime lead.

Bellarmine came out in the second period and scored the first five points to take a four-point lead, but Cincinnati spurted to a 15-0 run that gave them a 52-41 lead at the 13:11 mark.  The Knights stiffened a bit, but never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

Bellarmine got a stellar effort from sophomore George Suggs who scored 15 points and added in five blocks, five assists and five rebounds.   Senior Keisten Jones led the Knights in scoring with 20, and Jake Thelen (10) and Tanner Gibson (11) also hit double digits.  Cincinnati's Sean Kilpatrick led all scorers with 24.

"I really like the way our guys competed," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "What I told them last night is that I wanted them to finish this game and get on the bus and be proud to be on this basketball team.  They're in the locker room now, and they're not happy but they're proud to be a part of this program, and that bodes well for the future.  We have a chance to be a really special basketball team."

Bellarmine coughed up the ball 18 times, leading the Bearcats to a 25-8 advantage in points off turnovers.  However, Davenport said the experience will be valuable down the road.

"You can't simulate in practice what we got out of this game today," Davenport said.  "We faced unbelievable athleticism, unbelievable length and unbelievable physical strength, and that's the reason for the 18 turnovers.  The positive side of that is that we had 25 baskets on 23 assists, so we did find people.  It's just that they can erase mistakes with their athleticism and that is what great teams do."

Cincinnati Coach Mick Cronin said his squad also got a great experience from playing Bellarmine. "They do a great job," Cronin said.  "They are extremely well coached, and that's why we play them all the time. We were really impressed with their basketball team, and I wanted to play them so our guys would hopefully one day pass the ball as well as them. They had 23 assists on 25 baskets, which is why they go to Final Four's and win championships at the Division II level."

The Bearcats, who were playing in their second exhibition of the year, were good on 29 of their 54 field goal attempts for 53.7 percent and won the battle of the backboards 33-27.  The Knights cooled to 45.5 percent shooting for the game, and after their hot start from 3-point land finished just 13-34 from beyond the arc.

This was the only exhibition game for Bellarmine with the Knights opening their regular season at home on Nov. 16 against Marian. 

BOX SCORE