INDIANAPOLIS—After jumping out to an eight-point lead over the first 15 minutes of the game, the No. 3 Bellarmine Knights then went ice cold as the host Indianapolis Greyhounds stormed back to post a 78-69 victory in Nicoson Hall.
 
After UIndy closed the first half on a 9-0 run to take a one-point advantage at the break, the Greyhounds extended that run to 14-0 by scoring the first five points in the second half.
 
Bellarmine's drought extended well into the second period as the Knights hit just three of their first 11 shots after halftime while UIndy scorched the nets hitting nine of 14 over that same period as its cushion grew to 58-44 at the 10:34 mark.
 
The Knights fought through to the end, and a pair of CJ Fleming 3-pointers closed the gap to just three at 70-67 with 1:40 remaining.  However, the Greyhounds were able to convert their free throws down the stretch to pull out the win by a final margin of nine points.
 
"This is all you need to know," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "In the second half, they had five offensive rebounds and we had a grand total of seven defensive rebounds in the entire half. They scored 24 points in the second half in the paint, and that's the game. They were much the best, no doubt."
 
Another factor that helped swing the game in favor of the Greyhounds were 17 Bellarmine turnovers.  "They were totally mental," Davenport said of the turnovers. "It's our lack of fundamentals and our lack of execution and concentration."
 
The Greyhounds won the points off turnovers battle 21-9, and with their strong second half, outscored the Knights 34-28 in the paint.  UIndy also finished the game outshooting Bellarmine 48.2 to 45.3 percent.
 
UIndy's CJ Hardaway led four Greyhounds in double figures with a game-high 19 points while Jimmy King chipped in 14 and paced the home team with eight assists and five rebounds.
 
Alex Cook, who leads the GLVC in shooting percentage, hit six of eight from the field and finished with 15 points to lead the Knights. Fleming added 12 points while Tyler Jenkins and Chivarsky Corbett also reached double digits with 11 and 10 points respectively.
 
Bellarmine came into the game as a banged up team physically, and Adam Eberhard and Daniel Ramser sat out of the starting lineup for their second consecutive game due to injury. While Eberhard did see action tonight, Ramser remained on the sideline. The news may be getting worse on the health-front for the Knights as Corbett sat out the final 14 minutes after rolling his ankle.
 
The loss was Bellarmine's third in a row, the first 3-game skid since 2014.  The Knights now stand at 18-3 overall with a 9-3 GLVC mark. The Greyhounds improve to 16-6, 9-3 GLVC.
 
Bellarmine returns to Knights Hall for its next four contests, beginning Thursday night when they host Illinois Springfield at 8 p.m.
 
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)