LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After being shut out Saturday against Eastern Kentucky, it took Dylan Penn less than one minute to put the ball in the hole Tuesday night against Central Arkansas in Freedom Hall.

And then the Bellarmine University men's basketball senior guard scored again. And again. And again.

Penn hit 18-of-22 shots in pouring in a career-high 38 points as the Knights rolled to an 85-63 victory over UCA in ASUN play.

Those 18 made field goals tied the program record first set by Joe Reibel in 1959 against St. Joseph's. Reibel went on to coach Bellarmine for 23 seasons and amass 346 wins, the second most in program history after current Coach Scott Davenport surpassed him.

"You coach long enough, you'll see everything. That's amazing," Davenport said of Penn's shooting performance. "That ovation and salute (the crowd) gave Dylan Penn, that young man is never going to forget that and walking in the training room and our players giving him a celebration bath of water."

Penn's 38 points were five shy of the program record — 43 shared by Rudy Montgomery against Marian in 1960 and Matte Otte against Lewis in 2007 — and the second most in the Davenport era to Otte. Penn piled up 18 points in the first half and 20 in the second stanza for Bellarmine (8-8, 2-0 ASUN).

"I didn't want to overthink the game," Penn said. "I could have went into this game and pouted and had my head down (after going scoreless against Eastern Kentucky), but I just wanted to let the game come to me. I got into the flow of the game and got hot."

Scorching hot more like it.

Penn's mid-range game — his calling card — and his finishing at the rim were devastating. Only three of his points against Central Arkansas (5-11, 2-1) came from beyond the arc and just one came from the free-throw line. Penn converted nine of his 12 shots in the first half and nine of his 10 attempts after the intermission.

"I was just hoping that I would make the next shot," Penn said. "I didn't want to force it; I just wanted to stay aggressive."

While Penn had a performance for the ages, it can't be forgotten that the win was an important one. Central Arkansas had opened ASUN play with victories over Eastern Kentucky and Lipscomb, two teams expected to be in the hunt for a conference title.

Bellarmine shot 63.2 percent overall and, behind Penn, was lights out in both halves, hitting 57.1 percent in the first half while building a 34-24 lead and 69 percent in the second half while outscoring the Bears 51-39.

"It was a heck of a performance," Davenport said. "This team is really feeding off each other. I think it started with our defense."

Senior forward Ethan Claycomb played for the first time since Dec. 10 — Penn said "it felt like he's been gone for about a year" — and didn't seem to miss a beat, scoring nine points behind a trio of 3-pointers with three assists and three rebounds in a little over 17 minutes.

"It felt great. Obviously, I was a little winded. I'm sure everybody could tell," Claycomb said with a big grin. "It was good to be back out there and hit a couple shots and see those go in. I was tired of watching our team play on TV."

"We've got the oldest player in college basketball back," joked Penn. "He knows exactly what's about to happen before it happens. He brings leadership, he brings basketball IQ, shooting, rebounding, toughness — we miss a lot of things when he's out."

Senior guard Juston Betz canned all four of his shots in scoring eight points with five assists and five rebounds. Freshman forward Curt Hopf chipped in nine points, and junior guard Alec Pfriem tallied six rebounds and three assists.

Senior guard CJ Fleming moved into Bellarmine's all-time top five in career steals after collecting three thefts.

Bellarmine plays at 5 p.m. (ET) Saturday at Lipscomb.

Said Davenport: "There's no one we respect more in this league than Lipscomb."

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