LOUISVILLE, Ky.—For the fourth time in the last five games, the Bellarmine Knights saw an opponent's 3-pointer drop through the hoop to spoil a Bellarmine victory.
 
Thursday night's was the toughest one to watch for Bellarmine fans. 
 
After overcoming a 17-point second half deficit and taking the lead with 4.5 seconds on an Alex Cook layup, Bellarmine saw Truman State's Turner Scott swish a well-defended, off-balance shot from more than 30 feet as time expired to pull out a 61-60 victory in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at Knights Hall.
 
"It was good the minute it left his hand," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport, who thought his team's defense was good in the final seconds. "(Scott) shoots a step-through 34-footer and makes it.  When he starts going sideways, immediately you think the game is over…and he makes an unbelievable shot."
 
The Bulldogs led most of the game, with Bellarmine's only lead in the second half coming on Cook's layup.
 
The game started with an 8-0 run by Truman, but the Knights reeled off 10 straight to claim a brief lead. Bellarmine trailed just 24-21 with 5:13 remaining in the opening half, but the Bulldogs closed on a 10-run to take a 34-21 at halftime.
 
Early in the second period, Truman State pushed the margin to 17 on two occasions, but a pull-up jumper by Parker Chitty and four triples by the Knights pulled the home team to with eight at the 12:25 mark.
 
Then, Truman's Brodric Thomas went to the bench with four fouls, and Bellarmine took advantage of his absence.  Leaving the game on an offensive charge call with 9:36 remaining and the Bulldogs holding a 51-41 lead, the Knights fought back to tie the score at 53 apiece by the time Thomas checked back in at the 3:02 mark.
 
The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead, but a game-tying three-pointer by Ethan Claycomb with one minute remaining coupled with a key defensive stop gave the ball to the Knights with the shot clock turned off.  Bellarmine guard Dylan Penn dribbled out most of the clock before finding Cook for a reverse layup to the give the Knights the lead with four seconds showing on the clock.

After a video review, an additional five-tenths of a second was put back on the clock to set up Scott's game-winner.
 
Davenport said the game came down to Truman State's superior inside presence.  "You can break the game down in a lot of ways, but the bottom line is the game was decided on the backboard. There's no ifs ands or buts about it," he said. "We outshot them. Forced them into 14 turnovers.  We don't get to the free throw line and that's indicative of their dominance on the inside.  They won the backboard and they won the paint in getting to the foul line.  Cade McKnight had nine free throws in 38 minutes, and we had eight in 200 minutes."
 
Bellarmine converted 22 of 47 shots for 46.8 percent while limiting the Bulldogs to just 36.5 percent from the floor.  The Knights were particularly efficient from the beyond the arc, hitting 10 of 21 treys. Truman State was just seven of 26 from deep.

However, as Davenport pointed out, the Bulldogs owned decisive advantages in rebounding (36-26) and free throw shooting (16 of 21).
 
Cook finished with 19 points to lead all scorers with Claycomb adding 14, CJ Fleming chipping in 12 and Penn dropping in 10 for Bellarmine.
 
Scott and Thomas paced the Bulldogs (17-6, 13-2 GLVC) with 18 each, and McKnight turned in a double-double with 16 rebounds and 10 boards.
 
Bellarmine (16-6, 9-6 GLVC) is back in action on Saturday hosting Quincy in a 3:15 p.m. game.
 
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