LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine Knights passed their first ASUN Conference road test on Saturday, rebounding from a three-point halftime deficit to defeat Lipscomb 77-71 in Allen Arena behind a 25-point, eight-assist effort from Dylan Penn. 
 
The Knights, who moved to a perfect 3-0 in league play and 9-8 overall, got a big lift from Alec Pfriem, who drained a critical trey late in the game and converted all four of his free throws in the final 21 seconds of the game to finish with 16 points. Ethan Claycomb also made a big contribution off the bench, tying his career high with four three-pointers to score 12 points. Senior guard Juston Betz added a game-high eight rebounds to go along with five assists for Bellarmine.
 
Despite the outstanding personal efforts, Coach Scott Davenport said it was the team working cohesively that earned the victory, "We won this game because of an incredible group of young men who all wanted the same thing and were willing to do whatever it took, whether it was a rebound or a charge to achieve their goal," he said.  "Lipscomb is hard to play because you have to beat them. They don't beat themselves."
 
Bellarmine had a strong start to the game, bolting out to a 16-8 lead which prompted the Bisons to call a timeout to regroup. And regroup they did.  The home team came out of the timeout and strung together a 12-2 run to take a 20-18 advantage.  Moments later Lipscomb reeled off an 11-1 run to take a double-digit lead. However, the Knights closed the final four minutes of the half by outscoring the Bisons 13-6 to climb within three (37-34) at halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, Bellarmine maintained their momentum, scoring the first four points of the period to reclaim the lead. Lipscomb's Ahsan Asadullah put back his own miss to give the hosts a 39-38 lead, but that would be the last time the scoreboard showed an advantage for the home team. 
 
The Knights saw their lead grow to 15 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Penn at the 9:40 mark. From there, Bellarmine held off a late surge by Lipscomb by getting a run-out for an easy bucket and going 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 41 seconds.
 
Both teams came in with reputations as good-shooting clubs, and both lived up to their reputations. Bellarmine finished the game hitting exactly half of its shots while Lipscomb ended the game 27 of 50 (54 percent). 
 
However, the Knights made up for being outshot by getting more shots.  Bellarmine was a plus-seven on turnovers (13-6), so the Knights got eight more shots.  Plus, Bellarmine was more successful from three-point land.  The Knights finished 10-of-26 (38%) while Lipscomb made just six of 26 (27%).

For Penn, it was his second straight outstanding effort.  Against Central Arkansas on Tuesday, the Evansville native dropped in a career-high 38 points.  Tonight, in addition to posting game-highs in points (25) and assists (8), Penn added four rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. The cherry on the top for the senior guard was that his layup on the runout in the final minute made him the 43rd Knight to reach 1,000 for his career.  He later added two free throws to bring his career total to 1,002 points.
 
Will Pruitt paced the Bisons (8-11, 1-3 ASUN) in scoring with 21 as the Knights held Asadullah, the reigning ASUN Player of Week, to 10 points after the big man had scored 30 or more in his last two games.
 
Bellarmine returns to action on Tuesday night when the Knights host North Alabama at 7 p.m. in Freedom Hall.
 
FULL POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM COACH DAVENPORT