LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The No. 1 Bellarmine Knights absorbed a pretty good shot from Northern Michigan but prevailed 84-75 in today's final game of the Bellarmine Classic at Knights Hall.
The visiting Wildcats came out on fire, making their first seven shots with four of those coming from beyond the arc. In fact, Northern Michigan didn't miss a shot until Bellarmine's
Alex Cook blocked a Wildcat dunk attempt. The shooting performance staked NMU to a 19-11 advantage just six minutes into the game.
The Knights withstood the barrage, then battled back to pull ahead and took a 38-37 lead into the locker room at halftime. Coming out of the break, Bellarmine strung together a 12-3 run to extend its lead to 50-40, and the Wildcats got no closer than five the rest of the way as the Knights improve to 9-0 on the year and extend their home court win streak to 62 games.
"That was a tremendous college basketball game," said Bellarmine Coach
Scott Davenport. "You have one team that shoots 50 (percent) for the game, and what makes that significant is that 26 of their 42 shots were threes. The reason why this was such a significant win is this is a style we have not faced in nine games. They have two prolific scorers—two of the best scorers in the country. That's an NCAA tournament team, no doubt about it."
Davenport lauded his team's effort. "It took every possession to win that game," he said. "I'm just so proud of our guys. We held them to 44 percent shooting in the second half; they shoot 30 percent from the 3-point line, and that's the game right there."
Bellarmine finished the game connecting on 56.4 percent of its shots and owning a 10-rebound advantage on the glass. The Knights also committed just five turnovers while NMU coughed it up 12 times.
Individually, Bellarmine got several clutch performances.
Adam Eberhard led all scorers with 26 points while adding eight rebounds and five assists.
Ben Weyer turned in a double double with 10 points and 10 boards.
Daniel Ramser backed up his strong performance against Barry with perhaps an even better showing tonight with 10 points, two rebounds, and a career-high six assists while drawing the toughest defensive assignment all game.
Northern Michigan (8-3) got a 25-point effort from Isaiah Johnson, who hit six of seven shots, including all four of his 3-pointers and going a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line. He also led his team in assists with four.
The Knights now take a winter break and will return to action on Dec. 29 when they host Martin Methodist in a 5:30 p.m. game. (That game was originally scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip.)
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights), Facebook (BUKnights) and the BUKnights mobile app available for iPhone and Android.
BOX SCORE (HTM)
