MANHATTAN, Kan. — Ultimately, the Bellarmine University men's basketball team didn't win the game. But the Knights did win the second half.

Playing its second straight Power-5 opponent to start the season, Bellarmine outscored Kansas State 44-37 over the final 20 minutes, but the Wildcats did enough legwork before the break to pull out an 83-75 victory over the Knights on Friday night in Bramlage Coliseum.

Bellarmine (0-2) simply never quit in the second half. The Knights were playing an explosive Kansas State squad (1-1) that boasts a Naismith Award watch list member in Tylor Perry, who scored a game-high 18 points while sinking four 3-pointers and hitting all six of his free throws. Cam Carter added 17 points for the Wildcats, who led 46-31 at halftime.

Senior guard Bash Wieland registered 17 points while leading Bellarmine in scoring in both games and added a team-high seven rebounds. Junior forward Langdon Hatton notched 14 points and sophomore guard Ben Johnson chipped in 12. Sophomore guard Peter Suder distributed six assists and senior guard Alec Pfriem hauled in six rebounds.

Bellarmine had a strong performance from the field, shooting 48.4 percent and hitting right near that clip in both halves. Despite being outsized, the Knights held a 40-26 advantage in points in the paint and capitalized on extra opportunities to the tune of a 17-6 tilt in second-chance points.

Kansas State made Bellarmine pay for its mistakes, too. The Wildcats scored 27 points off 15 Knights turnovers. BU actually recorded two more made field goals than KSU, but the Wildcats sank 12 3-pointers and went 15-for-22 from the line compared to 7-of-8 for Bellarmine.

Perry canned a 3 to stake Kansas State to an 18-point lead to start the second half, but Hatton spotted senior guard Garrett Tipton for a backdoor layup, which triggered an 11-1 run that ended with Bellarmine trailing 50-42 with 15:39 left.

Kansas State recovered and built the lead back to 19 with nine minutes remaining. Bellarmine made a late push and used an 11-3 run capped by a long-range missile from Johnson and a basket by Wieland to cut the deficit to nine with 51 seconds left, and the Knights trimmed it to eight on a trifecta by Wieland.

Bellarmine will play at 7 p.m. (ET) Tuesday at Chattanooga.

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