LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team dropped a gut-wrenching 86-82 decision to Ball State Saturday afternoon at Knights Hall in their final nonconference home game.
 
The high-octane contest featured both teams making tough buckets throughout to keep the game tight, but it was ultimately the Cardinals who came out on top, due in part to their 32-15 advantage in free throw opportunities.
 
Junior guard Billy Smith finished with a career-high 33 points, becoming the first Knight to eclipse 30 since Ben Johnson in an overtime loss at Austin Peay in the finale game of the 2023-24 season. Smith went 6-for-8 from deep and 11-for-15 overall.
 
Fifth-year senior forward Dylan Branson matched his season high of 18 points, but the Knights were again without leading scorer Jack Karasinski (16.9 PPG) as he missed his third consecutive game with an injury.
 
Early on, Bellarmine picked up right where they left off following last Saturday's barrage of threes against Brescia. The Knights made threes on their first three possessions and followed that with layups on their next two to gain an early 13-7 advantage.
 
Things continued to look like they would go Bellarmine's way when Smith, who hit the Knights' first two threes, drained his third in a row after the ball bounced high and straight up off the rim before falling through to put the Knights up 19-14.
 
Eighteen of Bellarmine's first 24 points would come from beyond the arc.
 
Ball State, though, would wriggle their way back into the game, despite the Knights' hot shooting, with a 10-0 run to take a 36-30 lead. BSU led 2-0 then not again until 31-30 after a pair of free throws by John Hardin High School product Mickey Pearson Jr. with 5:31 left in the first.
 
A Kenyon Goodin three would stop the Cardinals' run and start a 6-0 Knights run to even the game again at 36.
 
The Cardinals finished the first half on an 11-6 run, capped by a Juanse Gorosito a deep straightaway three, to take a 47-42 lead into the locker room.
 
The teams were basically even shooting in the first half with Ball State at 53.8 percent and Bellarmine at 53.6 percent. Both teams made half of their threes (six for Ball State, nine for Bellarmine), but the Cardinals held a 13-3 advantage at the free throw line.
 
The Knights quickly knotted the game at 50-50 out of the break after a pair of slick assists in the lane by Johnson on buckets by Tyler Doyle and Smith. From that point, however, Ball State would slowly pull away with their lead growing as large as 11 at 79-68.
 
Bellarmine battled back to within three at 79-76 after a three-point play by Branson and again at 83-80 after a short jumper by Johnson rolled in. The Knights finally got to within one possession on a driving layup by Smith with 8.2 seconds left to bring Bellarmine to within two at 84-82. But, Pearson would ice the game with a pair of free throws on the other end.
 
Gorosito was a thorn in the Knights' collective side all afternoon, finishing with 21 points, hitting 7-of-12 threes. Pearson finished with 18 as five Cardinals tallied double-digit points.
 
For the game, Ball State shot 54.2 percent, 52.6 from three, while Bellarmine shot 47.5 percent, 37.9 from three. The Knights converted 13-of-15 free throw attempts, but the Cardinals made 24-of-32. Bellarmine won the rebounding battle 32-27
 
Bellarmine heads out west next week, taking on Wyoming on Thursday and Colorado on Saturday.
 
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