JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat is an apt description of the Bellarmine men's basketball team's 63-61 win over Jacksonville on Wednesday night.
 
With just over 10 minutes to play, the Bellarmine Knights faced an 11-point deficit on the road to the defensive-minded Jacksonville Dolphins, who, in this game, looked to be firing on all cylinders offensively. However, the Knights dug in, and starting with a Peter Suder layup at the 10:18 mark, slowly started clawing their way back in it. 
 
Bellarmine drew a charge on the following possession and Sam DeVault canned a three pointer from the left baseline to bring the Knights within six at 51-43 with 9:43 remaining. 
 
Bellarmine continued to get stops on the defensive end and eventually grabbed the lead (56-55) on a Juston Betz layup with 4:34 left in the game.  The Knights never surrendered the lead, but the game remained tense until the final buzzer.
 
After the Knights finally made it a two possession game (59-55) on a Suder free throw with just over two and a half minutes remaining, Jacksonville's Jarius Cook drained a triple to close the gap to just one.
 
The Knights answered as Langdon Hatton was fouled on a tip-in attempt, and the sophomore converted both free throws.  Bellarmine then committed a foul on the defensive end and JU's Kevion Nolan made both ends of the one and one with 1:13 showing on the clock to bring the home team to within one at 61-60.
 
The Dolphins then turned in a solid defensive effort, as Bellarmine settled for a contested 3-pointer late in the shot clock.  The ball bounced off the rim and Jacksonville collected the rebound and called timeout with 37.1 seconds. 
 
When play resumed, Nolan fired a triple from the right side that was off target and the ball went off a Dolphin on the left sideline to return possession to the Knights with 19.1 seconds.  After officials confirmed the call, Bellarmine inbounded to Ben Johnson, who was fouled almost immediately, and the redshirt freshman jarred both charity tosses to put the Knights up 63-60.
 
Jacksonville worked the clock to under 10 seconds whereupon Gyasi Powell missed on a potential game-tying three. The fight for the rebound was won by JU's Nolan, but by the time he corralled the ball, he was near midcourt, so Betz fouled him with 3.2 seconds to ensure he didn't get off a three-pointer. 

Nolan swished the first free throw to make it 63-61 but intentionally missed the second.  Garrett Tipton, who was Bellarmine's offensive leader on the night, came up with the defensive rebound and hurled it to the opposite end of the court to kill the rest of the clock and ensure the win for the Knights.
 
Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport gave credit to his team's performance at crunch time.  "Our late game execution…I mean Garrett runs that ball down and throws it (to the other end), and the game's over," he said.  "If you practice it, it does transfer to competition."
 
"What I told the players after the game is that what they went through tonight—the fight, the determination, the passion—that's going to pay off the rest of their lives, and I'm incredibly proud of them," Davenport said.
 
Over the game's first 30 minutes, it appeared that Jacksonville could do no wrong, shooting at a high rate…especially from beyond the arc.  The Dolphins hit six of their first 10 triples, but finished 10 for 25 from deep.  Even with cooling off, JU outscored the Knights 30-12 from beyond the arc.
 
Bellarmine countered by valuing the ball, committing just four turnovers the entire game.  That ball control led to 10 more field goal attempts for the Knights, who won despite being outshot 50 percent to 42.6 percent.
 
However, it was the second half turnaround in shooting percentages that made the difference according to Davenport. "The key to the game was that we hold them to 45 percent shooting in the second half and we make 50 percent," he said.
 
Tipton led all scorers with 20 points, and he was the lone Bellarmine player to reach double figures.  However, several Knights turned in impressive stat lines with Alec Pfriem scoring eight points and dishing out five assists while not committing a turnover. Suder added nine points and a game-high seven rebounds with Betz scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds.
 
Three Dolphins reached double figures with Dylan O'Hearn topping the list with 13.  Nolan dropped in 12 points with five assists, and Mike March adding 10 points and six rebounds.
 
The Bellarmine victory ensures the Knights (14-16, 9-8 ASUN) a spot in the postseason ASUN tournament while Jacksonville fell to 13-15 overall and 6-11 in league play.  
 
The Knights conclude the regular season on Friday at North Florida.  The Ospreys also punched their ticket to the ASUN tourney tonight by knocking off Eastern Kentucky 77-64.
 
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