LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was a three-point shooting clinic Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall, but the Bellarmine men's basketball team dropped their second straight game to start Atlantic Sun conference play to Lipscomb, 81-70.

Bellarmine (4-13, 0-2 ASUN) hit 11 three pointers, but Lipscomb (10-7, 1-1 ASUN) bested them with 14 treys. The teams shot nearly identical percentages from beyond the arc: Bellarmine at 42.3% (11-for-26) and Lipscomb at 42.4% (14-for-33). BU shot 56.3% from deep in the second half (9-for-16).

Sophomore guard Ben Johnson led the charge for the Knights with 16 points, including a dozen on 4-of-6 shooting from three. He's averaging 20.0 points in three games since being reinserted into the starting lineup.

Lipscomb led by 14 at 60-46 with 12:18 to play after a three by Kentucky native Derrin Boyd. The Knights were able to cut the lead to eight on a three by Johnson with 3:59 to play, but they missed their final four three-point attempts and were only able to muster a three-point play by senior guard Alec Pfriem the rest of the way.

Four other Knights aside from Johnson reached double figures: senior guard Garrett Tipton (13, 3-for-6 from three), junior forward Langdon Hatton (12), sophomore guard Peter Suder (10) and sophomore guard Billy Smith (10, 2-for-4 from three). Pfriem also hit a pair from three-point land. Suder and Tipton are tied for the team lead with nine double-digit scoring efforts apiece.

Bisons junior guard Joe Anderson led all scorers with 19, including 5-of-7 from three. Junior guard A.J. McGinnis scored 14 and hit 4-of-8 three-point attempts. Boyd finished with 14, though he was just 1-of-5 from deep.

Both teams committed eight turnovers, but Lipscomb was more efficient turning them into points, outscoring BU in points off turnovers, 13-6. Lipscomb also committed just nine fouls, holding Bellarmine to just five points from the free throw line to their 11.

The Knights only went seven deep as Dezmond McKinney (shoulder) missed his third straight game and Bash Wieland (finger) missed his sixth straight game.

Bellarmine continues ASUN play with another Thursday-Saturday week, this time at North Alabama on Jan. 11 at 8:45 p.m. ET and at Central Arkansas on Jan. 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET. ESPN+ will have the coverage.

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