LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Finals week is always a tough time on a college campus, and for the Bellarmine Knights men's basketball team the past seven days has been particularly tough.  In addition to the players having the stress of finals and their regular routines getting turned upside down, Bellarmine Head Basketball Coach Scott Davenport has had to deal with a severe case of kidney stones.

With all those distractions, it's little wonder that the nationally ranked Knights had to fight tooth and nail to fend off a St. Catharine team that entered tonight's game in the Louisville Airport East Expo Center Bellarmine Classic just 3-8 on the season. Bellarmine eventually prevailed 81-71 but trailed the majority of the game before several late game defensive stops fueled a 16-0 run that turned a 54-56 deficit into 14-point lead for the Knights.

Bellarmine struggled offensively all night and finished shooting just 39.6 percent for the game, the first time the Knights finished under 40 percent since last Jan. 2 when they made just 38.9 percent in a 73-56 victory.

Fifteen different Knights saw action as Davenport substituted liberally in the first half to try to find a spark.  Ten different Knights hit the scoring column with Rusty Troutman leading the way with 22 points. Conversely, the Patriots got no points from its bench, but did get a big night from Chris Johnson with 29 points and eight rebounds.

Bellarmine Assistant Coach Michael, who handled postgame media duties to allow Davenport to seek treatment for his kidney stones, said the difference was the defensive effort in the second half.  "We starting getting stops," he said. "I think we forced five straight turnovers that allowed us to get down the floor and run and get the easy layups and get the passing that we've been accustomed to. Give credit to St. Catharine, though, they came in ready to play."

Although Bellarmine scored the game's opening bucket, the Patriots gained the lead early on and controlled the game for most of the first half and took a 31-29 lead into halftime.

After the break, Johnson drained a short jumper on their opening possession and St. Catharine eased out to a six point lead at the 15:28 mark. The Knights responded by erasing the deficit over the next minute and a half as the game see-sawed back and forth with five lead changes and six ties in the second half until the Knights got their run to seal the game.

Outside of their shooting woes, the Knights posted respectable statistics.  Bellarmine turned the ball over just eight times while forcing 17 miscues by the Patriots. The Knights also owned 36-28 rebounding advantage.  Then, after allowing 50 percent shooting in the first half, the Patriots made just nine of 24 field goals (37.5%) in the second period as the Bellarmine defense clamped down.

One of the biggest statistics of the game was free throw shooting.  Bellarmine went to the line 35 times, converting 26, but the Patriots shot just 12 free throws, making 10.

Aside from Troutman, Yasin Kolo was the only Knight to reach double figures in scoring with 12.  For the Patriots, only Brandon Bobb Jones joined Johnson in double figures with 13.

The Knights--ranked No. 18 in the media poll and No. 23 by the coaches--improved to 7-2 on the year and now will face Shaw on day two of the Bellarmine Classic. The Bears fell to 1-7 earlier tonight after losing 85-64 to the University of Southern Indiana in the opening game of the Classic.

On Saturday, St. Catharine will square off against the USI Screaming Eagles at 5 p.m. with the Bellarmine-Shaw contest to follow at 7:30 p.m.
 
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