LOUISVILLE, Ky.—With its huge second half effort on Thursday night, the Bellarmine men's basketball team defeated FGCU 81-68 to earn its first ever ASUN Tournament victory and a spot in the semifinals against Liberty on Saturday, March 5 at 6 p.m.
 
The four teams remaining in the tourney also were the top-seeded teams.  The Knights are the No. 2 seed from the West and Liberty is the No. 1 seed from the East.  In the other semifinal, Jacksonville State, the West's No. 1 seed, will host East No. 2 seed Jacksonville on Saturday.
 
Liberty stamped its ticket to the semifinals with a 52-47 victory over Lipscomb as ASUN Player of the Year Darius McGhee poured in half of the Flames points with 26.
 
Saturday's matchup will be the Knights' first trip to Lynchburg, Virginia as both previous games between the teams took place in Freedom Hall.  Last year, the Flames won the final regular season game to win the ASUN regular season title over the Knights.  Earlier this season, Liberty held Bellarmine to its second-lowest point total of the year and left Freedom Hall with a 66-53 victory.
 
The 2022 ASUN scoring leader, McGhee comes into Saturday's game averaging 24.7 per game, and his 139 triples on the season not only lead the nation but are more than 12 entire teams. Despite having such a dynamic player, Liberty plays team basketball, and Kentucky native Kyle Rode earned 2nd Team All-Conference accolades.  The 6-7 junior forward averages 9.2 points and 4.3 assists for the Flames.
 
Bellarmine counters with a pair of All-Conference honorees of its own.  Dylan Penn and CJ Fleming were both named to the 2nd Team while Curt Hopf was named to the ASUN All-Freshmen team.  Penn and Fleming finished the regular season ranked among the league's top five scorers and come into Saturday's game averaging 16.3 and 15.3 points respectively.
 
The winner of Saturday's game advances to the ASUN Championship game on Tuesday.  That game will be played on the home court of the highest remaining seed. For Bellarmine to host, the Knights and the Dolphins (of JU) would have to win. Bellarmine and Jacksonville had identical conference records (11-5), but the Knights hold the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the head-to-head matchup.
 
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