LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just how good was the Bellarmine University men's basketball team's defense Saturday against ASUN heavyweight Florida Gulf Coast University?

Put it this way: If the Knights were shut out for the entire second half, they would have lost by a single point.

Bellarmine smothered the Eagles defensively and used a big first half on offense and balanced scoring overall in rolling to a 61-41 win in ASUN action in Freedom Hall.

"That was us defensively," Knights Coach Scott Davenport said.

Freshman guard Ben Johnson came off the bench to score a game-high 14 points for Bellarmine (8-11, 3-3 ASUN), which snapped a four-game losing streak on its home floor with the victory over FGCU (13-6, 3-3).

Senior guards Juston Betz and Alec Pfriem and freshman guard Landin Hacker registered 11 points apiece. Betz actually flirted with a triple-double after racking up game highs of eight rebounds and seven steals, the latter ranking first in the Division-I era and tied for second overall with Braydon Hobbs (Jim Hall had eight in 1975). Betz moved into 10th in the record book in career steals with 111.

On top of that, Bellarmine is extremely thorough in tracking deflections, and Davenport noted Betz amassed an unbelievable 21.

"Never in my life has a kid had 21 deflections," Davenport said, his voice trailing off in emotion while praising Betz for the work ethic, leadership and effort he's displayed throughout his career. "In 2001, when I was first retained (as an assistant coach at Louisville) by Coach Pitino, is when I started becoming a deflection guy. Never, never seen 21 deflections."

Bellarmine was coming off its most disappointing performance of the season after falling 80-51 to Stetson on Thursday in a loss where the Knights were never competitive. Neither Davenport nor his players minced words, calling the lopsided setback "embarrassing."

All Bellarmine did Saturday was hold FGCU to its lowest point total of the season. And it really wasn't close, as 50 against Tennessee was the previous bottom mark.

Bellarmine held FGCU to 41 total points, and the Knights scored 40 in the first half alone. Coming out with an energy that was lacking against Stetson, BU built a double-digit lead a little over seven minutes into the contest and went into the intermission with a 40-21 advantage.

"Our pace offensively in the first half, and the 40 points reflected it, was the best it's been in three weeks," Davenport said.

Bellarmine cooled off significantly in the second half on offense, but the Knights' defense never wavered. That intensity led BU to outscoring the Eagles 21-20 in the second stanza.

Bellarmine limited FGCU to 30.4-percent shooting overall, including 20 percent from 3-point range. The Eagles were only 5-for-25 from long range — a sharp contrast to Stetson, which hit 19-of-40 attempts from deep against the Knights.

Pfriem and Hacker buried a trio of 3-pointers each, Johnson sank two and Betz nailed a trey roughly midway through the second half that kept the lead in the 20-point range after FGCU had gotten back within 14, its closest margin after halftime.

Bellarmine will play at 8 p.m. (ET) Thursday at Austin Peay State.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights) and Facebook (BUKnights).