UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich.—With the No. 1 preseason ranking, expectations were high for the Bellarmine men's basketball team in its season opener on Friday night at Saginaw Valley State University's O'Neill Arena.  The Knights exceeded all of those expectations—at least for the first five minutes of the game.
 
Bellarmine bolted from the gates with a commanding 13-0 lead and did not miss a shot until the 14:20 mark of the first half.  The Knights rolled into halftime with 46-26 advantage, but then had to hold off the Cardinals coming down the stretch to hang on for a 73-62 victory.
 
After scorching the nets with 61 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes, Bellarmine was just seven of 20 (35%) in the second period. The shooting trend extended to the free throw line where the Knights made 13 of 20 second half charity tosses after draining 13 of 14 in the first half.
 
Meanwhile, the Cardinals saw their shooting improve. While still relatively cool at 44 percent, SVSU used the better shooting to climb within nine points in the late stages of the game.
 
Bellarmine's preseason All-American Adam Eberhard rose to the occasion for the Knights.  After being limited to just four points—all at the free throw line—in the first period, the 6-8 Evansville, Indiana native closed the final 6:30 of the game with nine points (2-3 FGs, 5-6 FTs), three rebounds, two blocked shots, and an assist to help fend off the Cardinals. Eberhard finished the game with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists—all team-highs.  
 
Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said that the game was nearly identical to Bellarmine's 83-75 season-opening win over SVSU last year. "We were up 17 in the first half last year…It was a carbon copy of last year's game, except this year, they're at home.  What I'm disappointed about, is did we learn from last year? We've challenged them all along not to be last year's team.  Tonight we were."
 
However, Davenport said the most important aspect of the game was that it was a true in-region road win. "So it's a great win," he said. "Nobody is going to stop against us.  We have to learn from that. The whole key tonight is that that locker room is not happy."
 
While the final margin may have been disappointing given the large margin of the first half, the Knights have plenty of positives to take away from the game.  Perhaps the best sign for the future of the team is the fact that 11 different players got quality minutes and nine found the scoring column.
 
In addition to Eberhard, three more Knights scored in double figures with Chivarsky Corbett pouring in 14, Ben Weyer adding 12 and Tyler Jenkins chipping in 10. 
 
Saginaw Valley's Myle Belyeu led all scorers with 19 while the Cardinals' James Toohey hauled in a game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Knights have a short recovery period as they'll return to action on Saturday at 5 p.m. back in O'Neill Arena to battle the Northwood Timberwolves on day two of the GLIAC-GLVC Challenge.
 
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