Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The No. 2 Bellarmine University Knights lost a heartbreaker to No. 10 Southern Indiana tonight as Gavin Schumann's tip in as time expired in the first overtime period gave the Screaming Eagles the 68-66 victory in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in Knights Hall.

Bellarmine had made a thrilling comeback to tie the game in regulation as Vance Hall hit a 10-foot pull up jumper with 2.2 seconds on the clock to tie it at 59.  The Knights actually had a chance to win the game in regulation when USI turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, but Keisten Jones came up short with his last second shot. 

Bellarmine took the first lead in the overtime period as George Suggs hit a short jumper in the paint, and the Knights kept the advantage until Orlando Rutledge converted a layup with just 16 seconds remaining.  Jones tied it with less than 10 seconds when he made one of two from the charity stripe.  Southern Indiana's Lawrence Thomas then launched a long 3-pointer from straight away that rattled out, but Schumann was there to re-direct it in the basket for the victory. 

"You can't get beat by 20 rebounds on the backboard and give up 21 offensive rebounds and expect to win a game against a top 10 team in the country," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "And then to shoot 50 percent from the free throw line and 41 percent from the field… those three factors alone…you just can't overcome that.  And it's fitting they win on a tip in." 

The game opened slowly with Bellarmine holding a 2-0 lead three minutes into the contest. Neither team led by more than four points in the opening 20 minutes as there were seven ties and seven lead change, and USI went to the locker room with a 25-23 advantage.

In the second period, the Screaming Eagles surged ahead by nine at the 11:31 mark.  Then the raucous Bellarmine crowd seemed to will the Knights to make a comeback and the home team responded as Tanner Gibson hit a three and Josh Derksen got hot, scoring Bellarmine's next 14 points, as BU tied it at 55 with 2:22 remaining in regulation.

USI's Aaron Nelson then made one of two charity tosses and the Knights had the chance to take the lead, but Jake Thelen misfired on a layup with 56 seconds remaining.  Thomas then canned a pair of free throws to put USI up 58-55 with 41 ticks left. 

Hall trimmed it to one with a layup at the 22-second mark, and Bellarmine then fouled Schumann.  The USI guard made just one of two free throws with nine seconds remaining, which set up Hall's pull-up jumper with 2.2 seconds to force the overtime.

Five Screaming Eagles scored in double figures with Nelson leading the way with 15 points to go along with his 19 rebounds. Bellarmine was led by Derksen's 16 points, and Jones registered 10 points as the only Knights in double figures.  Hall yanked down eight rebounds and dished out six assists to lead the team in those statistics.

Southern Indiana held the Knights to season lows in points, field goal percentage (41.3 percent) and free throw percentage (50 percent) as Bellarmine falls to 13-2, 5-2.   The Screaming Eagles improve to 14-1, 6-1. 

The Knights now face a challenging road trip when they travel to Somers, Wisc., to face the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday, then go to No. 23 Lewis on Saturday.  The Rangers are leading the GLVC with a league record of 7-0 and are 14-2 overall.  Lewis is tied with Bellarmine at 5-2 in GLVC play and have an identical 13-2 overall record.

BOX SCORE (HTM)