LYNCHBURG, Va.—On a night when Bellarmine freshmen stepped up to pace the offense, ultimately it was the most experienced player on the floor who hit the most critical shot.
 
Graduate student Juston Betz, in his sixth year in the program, simply refused to see his long Bellarmine career end as his turnaround jumper fell through the nets with just four-tenths of a second remaining to lift the Knights to a 76-74 victory over North Florida in the opening round of the ASUN Championship Tournament on Monday night in Liberty Arena.
 
A highly competitive game from the outset, the Knights had pulled ahead in crunch time only to see a pair of late UNF three-pointers connect and a slam dunk tie the game at 74 with 9.9 seconds remaining. 
 
The Knights opted not to take a timeout and rushed the ball upcourt.  Betz had the ball on the right side of the lane but couldn't find an open teammate, so he spun to his left and hoisted up a fallaway jumper.  The ball hit the front of the rim then bounced up and swished through to give Bellarmine the lead. The Knights then swatted away the North Florida heave on the inbounds pass to secure the victory.
 
"That last shot defied gravity," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "It was short—it was falling short—and somehow it went in."
 
Davenport said that the game-winning shot coming off the hands of Betz was fitting.  "Has there ever been a more deserving player?" he asked.  "The shot that he hit has been practiced in individual instruction for six years."
 
Just three days ago, the same two teams squared off in the regular season finale on UNF's home floor, and the Ospreys grabbed a 79-67 victory behind a 12-for-24 three-point shooting night and a rebounding advantage of plus-13. 
 
While UNF again had a great 3-point night (14 of 30), the difference was that Bellarmine turned the tables in the rebounding department and owned a 34-26 advantage on the backboards.
 
Consequently, the second chance points were even tonight (11 apiece) while UNF outscored the Knights 19-2 in second chance points on Friday.
 
Davenport said the key to the Bellarmine success on the glass was everyone contributing.  "Our rebounding totals tonight (from individuals):  8-2-3-6-4-4.  That's what we kept talking about—we all had to rebound."
 
Another difference maker for the Knights was the performance by redshirt freshman Ben Johnson, who poured in 26 points, from all positions on the floor.  He hit four triples but was also effective in the paint and from midrange.  All told, the Lexington native connected on nine of 14 shots and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
 
While Johnson did most of his damage in the second half, it was another freshman that paced the Knights in the opening 20 minutes.  Peter Suder scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half. His stat line included six rebounds and a team-high five assists. Garrett Tipton also reached double digits for the Knights with 11 while Langdon Hatton was BU's leading rebounder with eight.
 
North Florida (14-17) got a great game from Jarius Hicklen, who nailed seven of 11 threes and finished with 25 points.
 
The win propels Bellarmine (15-17) into Tuesday's quarterfinal round where they'll meet the second-seeded Liberty Flames.  Game time is 7 p.m. in Liberty Arena.
 
Last season, the Knights upset the Flames on their home floor in the ASUN semifinals en route to winning the 2022 conference championship.