EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Despite setting a new school record by shooting 72.5 percent from the field, the top-ranked Bellarmine Knights had to fend off a late comeback attempt to hand Southern Indiana a 92-80 defeat in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night at the Physical Activities Center on USI's campus.
 
The emotionally-charged game saw the Knights shoot lights-out, but commit 21 turnovers as Southern Indiana managed to keep within striking distance. The host Screaming Eagles also had a hot shooting hand in the second half, whittling away at a Bellarmine lead that was once as many as 15 to grab a brief lead late in the game when Alex Stein connected on a 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining.
 
The Knights answered on the next possession as Adam Eberhard completed an old fashioned 3-point play to give Bellarmine the lead for good at 81-79.  After USI's Hugues Mbumba converted one of two free throws, Eberhard found Chivarsky Corbett on a back-door cut to put the Knights up by three. Corbett then delivered perhaps the biggest defensive play of the game by blocking a 3-point attempt by USI's Nate Hansen and then collecting the rebound.
 
From there, the Knights simply converted free throws to salt the game away.  The final margin of 12 is deceiving as Bellarmine tacked on seven free throws with less than five seconds on the clock due to a personal foul and multiple technical fouls whistled on Southern Indiana.
 
"Welcome to conference play," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport in summing up the game. "You've got two great programs. You've got two senior-laden teams. They know they're never going to play us here again. Our players know they're never going to come here again…talk about teams playing as hard as they can play."
 
"(Southern Indiana) is the best team we've played, no doubt about it, and the stakes are increased because you're playing a conference game," Davenport said. "But I was incredibly proud of our poise on a night when a lot didn't go our way, other than shooting the ball."
 
Eberhard came up big for the Knights in the second half, pumping in 27 points to finish with a career-high-tying 30 in the game. Ben Weyer was the Bellarmine go-to man in the first period as he went for 19 points—all in the first 20 minutes—to tie his career high. Weyer was seven of eight from the field, including a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. 
 
CJ Fleming came off the bench to add 11 points, and Corbett finished with 10 for the Knights.  As a team, Bellarmine made 29 of 40 field goals (72.5 percent) to break a school record that was set back in 2004 against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
 
Perhaps even more impressive than their shooting was the Knights' rebounding. Bellarmine owned a 30-21 advantage on the backboard, despite the Screaming Eagles coming into the contest with a +9.2 rebounding margin. Weyer and Alex Cook corralled eight boards apiece for BU to tie for game-high honors.
 
Southern Indiana (4-2, 0-1 GLVC) made 16 of 27 shots in the second period for 59.3 percent, but the Knights held them to 49.1 percent for the game. Stein paced USI with 25 points, and Josh Price contributed 22.  "You've got to give them (USI) credit," Davenport said. "They hit some incredibly difficult shots."
 
Bellarmine (6-0, 1-0 GLVC) swings back into action on Saturday, when the Knights host Christian Brothers in a 3 p.m. game.
 
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