LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Playing for the first time in 10 days, the No. 1 Bellarmine Knights showed no signs of rust and barreled past the No. 12 Barry Buccaneers 90-67 on Tuesday night in Knights Hall on the first day of the Bellarmine Classic. Bellarmine chalks up its 61st straight home win and moves to 8-0 on the season.
The Knights' offense and defense starting clicking early, and after
Adam Eberhard's layup put his team ahead 23-12 just 8:25 into the game, the Buccaneers never trimmed the margin back into single digits. By halftime, the Bellarmine lead had swelled to 24 and grew to as many as 36 in second half when
Chivarsky Corbett's layup gave the Knights a 78-42 cushion with 7:57 remaining.
Bellarmine got solid contributions up and down the lineup as 14 players saw court time with 12 hitting the scoring column and no one logging more than 27 minutes. Corbett and
Alex Cook paced the Knights' attack with 14 points apiece with
Ben Weyer chipping in 13.
Daniel Ramser finished just one point shy of his career high with 12 while blocking three shots, and Eberhard dropped in eight points and led the team with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Coming into the game, the Buccaneers were among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense and were fifth in the nation in rebounding margin. However, the Knights won both battles, outshooting Barry 55.8 to 41.7 percent, and Bellarmine was a plus-five in rebounding.
"It was an incredible night of basketball for us at both ends," said Bellarmine Coach
Scott Davenport. "It was great from a preparation standpoint. The assistant coaches did a phenomenal job, and then the players transferred it into competition. One of our goals tonight was to enjoy each other, and tonight I give an A-plus for that."
Barry, which fell to 7-2 on the season, was paced by Tylan Birts with 16 points while Daniel Mortensen and Johannes Dolven scored 10 each.
Day two of the Bellarmine Classic opens with a 1 p.m. tip on Wednesday between Barry and Southern Indiana, which pulled out a 74-69 over Northern Michigan in today's first game. The Knights square off against the Wildcats following the USI-Barry game. Tip is expected about 3 p.m.
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