FLORENCE, Ala.—The Bellarmine Knights gutted out a tough 69-65 ASUN Conference road victory over North Alabama on Monday night in Flowers Hall. 
 
The game, which featured 12 lead changes, came down to the wire, and Bellarmine finished with a 10-4 run over the final 3:22 to capture the win.  With the host Lions leading 61-59, Bellarmine redshirt senior Garrett Tipton scored back-to-back buckets to give the Knights a 63-61 edge with 49 seconds remaining, and the visitors never relinquished the lead.
 
In addition to clutch free throws by Juston Betz, Landin Hacker, and Alec Pfriem, the Knights came up with several big defensive plays to pull out the win. Betz and Peter Suder drew charges, and Suder blocked a potential go-ahead triple with just 31 seconds left in the game.
 
After Suder's block, Pfriem grabbed the rebound and got the outlet pass to Betz who was fouled with 24 ticks remaining on the clock.  The graduate student drained both charity tosses to put the Knights up 65-61, but North Alabama trimmed it to just a one-point game as Daniel Ortiz was fouled driving to the basket and converted both free throws. 
 
The Lions then gave an immediate foul, and Hacker, who was clutch all night—finishing with a career-high 13 points—made both free throws with 12 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession game at 67-63.  North Alabama got a layup from freshman Jacari Lane just six seconds later to pull the Lions within two.  North Alabama then fouled Pfriem with five seconds remaining, and the senior made both of his free throw to ice the game by giving Bellarmine a 69-65 advantage.  A last second triple by Ortiz was off the mark, and the Knights held on for the win.
 
After the game, Bellarmine Head Coach Scott Davenport gave all the credit to his team.  "It's all about them," he said. "That resiliency was something else," he said, noting how strong of an opponent UNA was. "That team (UNA) won at Ole Miss, and they won at Jacksonville State, which is picked ahead of us."
 
Individually, several Knights posted impressive stat lines with four players scoring in double figures.  Tipton led all scorers with 18 points while Betz posted 12 points while leading the team with seven rebounds and six assists.  Pfriem finished with 11 points for Bellarmine.
 
Hacker's performance was special not only because of the stat line that showed him going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 4-for-4 from the free throw line, but because he came through in crucial moments without having been in that situation before. Coming into tonight's game, the Greenwood, Indiana native had played just 52 minutes, and the most minutes in a Division I came at Loyola Marymount where he logged just five.  However, with Bellarmine suffering from the injury bug, Hacker's No. 4 was called, and he answered in a big way.

"I might not know if I'm ever going to go in," he told radio play-by-play man Doug Ormay in his postgame interview, "but I know if I do go in, I'm going to give it my all and my energy is going to be top notch.  We needed that "W" really bad, and we're all super happy."
 
Bellarmine's team performance was solid and led to the Knights snapping a three-game skid.  In addition to shooting 50 percent from the field, including 9-of-18 from long range, the Knights cleaned up the turnovers, which had been an issue in the previous three games.  Tonight, Bellarmine turned it over just eight times and won the "points off turnovers" battle 16-8.
 
North Alabama, which fell to 9-6 (1-1 ASUN), was paced by Lane, who finished with 16 points, and former Lipscomb player KJ Johnson, who totaled 15.
 
Bellarmine, which improved to 6-9 (1-1 ASUN), returns to action on Thursday when the Knights host ASUN newcomer Queens University of Charlotte in Freedom Hall at 6:30 p.m. The Royals will enter the game 11-4 overall and 1-1 in league play.
 
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