LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University men's basketball team's first-ever game in the ASUN Conference was a thriller, but Lipscomb pulled it out in the final minute in defeating the Knights 77-72 on Friday in Freedom Hall.

In a seesaw affair that saw 13 lead changes and nine ties, Bellarmine (3-4, 0-1 ASUN) and Lipscomb (7-6, 2-1), the preseason favorite to win the league, were knotted up at 70 with less than two minutes remaining after sophomore forward Sam DeVault buried a 3-pointer. The Knights took the lead after junior guard Dylan Penn converted a drive.

As the clock ticked under a minute, Lipscomb tied it up on a putback by ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Ahsan Asadullah. The Knights missed a drive on their next possession, and the Bisons' KJ Johnson was fouled and hit both free throws with 30 seconds left for a 74-72 lead.

Bellarmine had some unfortunate luck on the ensuing possession. A Knight tripped as he was receiving a pass, and Lipscomb capitalized as Jake Wolfe collected the resulting loose ball. He was fouled and sank both free throws to give the Bisons a four-point lead with 16 seconds left en route to the win.

"That was a heck of a college basketball game right there," Knights Coach Scott Davenport said. "That's two really good basketball teams playing."

Bellarmine outrebounded the Bisons 33-26, hoisted 14 more field-goal attempts and held a 36-24 advantage in points in the paint despite Asadullah's imposing presence. However, Lipscomb hit 52.2 percent of its shots, including 61.9 percent in the second half, and canned 12 of its 23 three-point attempts along with 17-of-22 free throws — Bellarmine shot 46.7 percent and had only 11 free-throw attempts, hitting seven.

"You give them credit: They made (shots)," Davenport said. "It came down to them making some really big shots. We had some plays at the rim we've got to finish."

Senior forward Ethan Claycomb registered a team-high 16 points with five rebounds and five assists for Bellarmine. Junior guard Pedro Bradshaw tallied 14 points and nine rebounds, and DeVault notched 13 points with five rebounds. Johnson supplied a game-high 20 points and Greg Jones had 19 for Lipscomb as the duo combined for eight 3-pointers.

Bellarmine didn't appear to have any nerves in its ASUN debut, as the Knights jumped out to a 12-3 lead after Claycomb followed his old-fashioned three-point play with a shot from behind the arc. Lipscomb responded with a 14-5 run to tie it up, and the teams continued the back-and-forth battle for the remainder of the game. That early nine-point lead by Bellarmine was the game's largest; Lipscomb's biggest advantage was five.

This season in conference play, ASUN opponents meet on consecutive days at the same location. Bellarmine will host Lipscomb again at 5 p.m. (ET) Saturday in Freedom Hall.

"We've got to rest up tonight and get back at it tomorrow and try to redeem ourselves," Bradshaw said.

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