FORT MYERS, Fla.—A strong defensive effort by the Bellarmine Knights helped the visitors overcome slow starts in both halves to defeat the homestanding Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles 74-63 on Saturday night in an ASUN Conference game at Alico Arena.
 
After falling behind by 11 in the early going, Bellarmine started to see shots drop while getting defensive stops, and the Knights rallied to take a 31-30 lead into the locker room despite a last-second triple by FGCU's Franco Miller.
 
Coming back after the break, the Knights again fell behind as the Eagles raced out to 46-38 advantage at the 13:58 mark.  And again, the visitors slowly chewed away at the lead with defense. Bellarmine took the lead for good on CJ Fleming's trey with 8:53, which was part of a Knights' 13-0 run.
 
Down the stretch, the Knights' execution was nearly flawless, and their free throw shooting was absolutely flawless, draining all 14 attempts from the charity stripe.
 
"The game was won defensively," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "It's ironic, because we talked all week about not being a team that had shoot to the ball well.  Because when you have to go on the road in league play, you may not shoot it well. Tonight, we shot 43-3 (percent) and held them to 36."
 
Fleming, who became Bellarmine's all-time leader in games played tonight with 134, paced the Knights offensively, leading four players in double figures with 23.  Dylan Penn notched 20 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists.  Ethan Claycomb tossed in 13 while Alec Pfriem added 11.
 
Despite the multiple double-digit scorers, Juston Betz may have had the most impressive stat line for the Knights, handing out a career-high 10 assists and grabbing nine rebounds.
 
In his postgame comments on 98.9 The Ville, Davenport praised both Fleming and Betz.
 
While speaking to Fleming breaking the games played record, Davenport said, "He is an amazing basketball player.  There should be a study done on how people become CJ Fleming."
 
Then on assessing the impact of Betz on tonight's game, Davenport said, "I can't tell you how good Juston Betz played tonight.  He goes 10 assists and nine rebounds and doesn't score a point, but he's the most valuable guy on the court."
Although there were plenty of personal achievements, the Bellarmine performance was a team effort. The Knights, who came into the game leading the league in assist to turnover ratio, actually improved on that statistic tonight by handing out 21 assists on 26 made baskets and committing just four turnovers.
 
Bellarmine also limited FGCU's ability to get second chances. In fact, the Knights owned a 9-2 advantage in second chance points despite the Eagles owning a 12-7 advantage in offensive rebounds.
 
Tavian Dunn-Martin, who came in FGCU's leading scorer and the second-best scorer in the league, put up 24 points to pace the Eagles while center Kevin Samuel recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Bellarmine improves to 13-9 on the year with a 7-1 mark in league play, and FGCU now shares the Knights' 13-9 mark, but the Eagles are just 3-5 in ASUN games.
 
Tonight's game was Bellarmine's fourth in the span of one week, so the Knights will welcome a brief break before returning to action on Thursday to take on Liberty, the defending ASUN champions and current East Division leaders. The Flames were upset victims on Saturday, as Jacksonville State went on the road and got a 77-67 victory over Liberty—the Flames' first loss in ASUN play this year.
 
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