Box Score ROMEOVILLE, Ill.—The No. 7 Bellarmine University men's basketball team couldn't shake off an ice-cold start and dropped a 76-68 decision to the 19^th-ranked Lewis Flyers in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at Neil Carey Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Down 21 at halftime, the Knights made a strong comeback attempt and closed the gap to just four points at 70-66 with just 21 seconds remaining, but the Flyers converted their free throws and pulled out the eight-point victory.

"We just had an abysmal night shooting the basketball, especially from the three-point line," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport, "but we played every second of this basketball game."
The Knights' dismal start was magnified due to the Flyer's hot start.  While Bellarmine missed its first 10 shots, the Flyers hit eight of their first 12 and jumped out to a 22-2 lead.  The first basket for the Knights didn't go through the hoop until the 10:53 mark of the first half when Corbin Maynard nailed a three-pointer.

Lewis went into halftime leading 39-18, outshooting the Knights 54 percent to just 22 percent.  Almost all of the damage was done by the Flyers starting five, which scored 36 of their 39 points.  By contrast, the Bellarmine starting five managed only six first half points.

"The hole was established at the defensive end," said Davenport, who pointed out the Knights led the league in field goal percentage defense heading into the game.  "You can't give up 54 percent shooting in the first half and be in the game." 

In the second period, the Knights outscored the Flyers 50-37 as they rebounded to hit 17 of 33 second half shots (51.5%) while holding Lewis to just five of 12 from the field.  However, the Flyers made 25 of 34 free throw attempts in the second stanza.

Aside from their frigid shooting, the Knights posted solid team statistics.  Perhaps most impressively, the Knights held a plus-five in the turnover margin (8-13), despite the fact that Lewis entered play ranked first in the nation in fewest turnovers a game.  Bellarmine also held a 34-30 rebounding edge. 

Another encouraging stat for the Knights was connecting on 16 of 19 free throws (84.2%) to clean up an area that had been a common thread in Bellarmine's first three losses of the season.

Bellarmine got great production out of its bench as evidenced by a 32-3 edge in bench points.  Josh Derksen and Donnie Hale each tossed in 10 points on the night while starter Vance Hall was the team leader with 13. Davenport used his third different starting lineup in three games.  Sophomore forward George Suggs returned to the starting lineup after sitting out a game with an ankle injury, and freshman Rusty Troutman made his first career start joining Hall, Jake Thelen and Keisten Jones.

The Flyers (15-2, 7-2 GLVC) were led by former GLVC Freshman of the Year Ryan Jackson, who poured in 23 points, and backcourt mate Jeff Jarosz contributed 19 points and six assists.
The loss was Bellarmine's third in a row and drops the Knights to 13-4 overall and 5-4 in the GLVC.  The last time Bellarmine dropped three in a row was back in the 2007-08 season.

Despite the skid, Davenport was upbeat about his team in his postgame radio interview.  He said, "That locker room in there was great. I'm going to do everything I can humanly do. Every ounce of effort, every ounce of perspiration, every ounce of preparation, that I can get out of my body to help this team these last nine games.  That's my vow to them.  All I ask for is, it's going to take all of us." 

The Knights return to action on Thursday with an 8 p.m. contest against McKendree in Knights Hall.

BOX SCORE (HTM)