LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It rained three-pointers for much of the second half inside Knights Hall Saturday afternoon as Bellarmine downed in-state Brescia 94-66.
 
The Knights drained 22 threes, the most since they sank 23 against Alice Lloyd, Brescia's conference mate in the NAIA River States Conference, on December 4, 2022. Fifteen of the longballs came in the second half as the Knights made just 7-of-27 (.333) in the first.
 
Landin Hacker led the way with a career-high 21 points, all on made three-pointers. Hacker shot the ball 11 times, all from beyond the arc. The junior guard's seven made threes were the most by a Knight since Ben Johnson hit nine in the game against Alice Lloyd.
 
Johnson, himself, netted 17 points, hitting 5-of-12 from deep, while Billy Smith and Dylan Branson each added 12.
 
Bellarmine (3-7) finished with a program record 49 three-point attempts. They set the season-high number of 32 with more than 13 minutes left in the game. The previous record was 47 three-point attempts versus West Virginia Tech on December 9, 2013.
 
Despite the lopsided final score, Brescia (1-6) did not make things easy early on. The Bearcats started 5-of-7 from the field to open an early 12-8 lead with junior guard Damian Garcia scoring the first 11.
 
Bellarmine started just 6-for-20 from the field as Brescia held an 18-17 lead at the under-8 timeout before Johnson, Smith and Hacker hit threes on consecutive possessions to build some cushion at 26-21. The first half margin would grow to 13 for the Knights before the Bearcats closed the gap with a 6-0 run to send the teams to the locker rooms with a 36-29 Bellarmine lead.
 
Brescia finished the first half 11-for-26 (.423) from the floor and 5-of-11 (.455) from three. Garcia accounted for six field goals (four threes) for 18 points to keep Brescia close at the break.
 
The shots began to fall much more freely for Bellarmine in the second half. They opened the stanza shooting 11-for-15 and 5-for-9 from three to build a 64-49 lead with just over 10 minutes left.
 
Perhaps the moment that spelled the end of hope for Brescia was Hacker hitting a three before the shot clock buzzer after he had to corral a pass a step to his right and fire with no hesitation. The basket gave Bellarmine a 70-51 lead with 8:30 left.
 
Bellarmine, who outscored Brescia 58-37 in the second half, shot 53.0 percent overall and only attempted 17 two-point field goals, hitting 13. The Knights outrebounded the Bearcats 44-27.
 
Garcia finished with a game-high 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting, 5-for-7 from deep. As a team, Brescia shot 41.9 percent.
 
Bellarmine has a week off before they host Ball State at 3 p.m. ET next Saturday inside Knights Hall.
 
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