LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was an offensive explosion Saturday night inside Knights Hall as the Bellarmine men's basketball team and North Florida combined for 181 points, though it was the homestanding Knights who were on the short end of a 98-83 loss.
 
Jack Karasinski scored a career-high 27 points, the third-most by a Knight this season, on 11-of-16 shooting and Billy Smith added 20 on 9-of-18 shooting for his second 20-point effort in his past three games. Ben Johnson dropped in 13 points, his highest output in over a month.
 
North Florida, however, stayed true to their M.O., unleashing a bombardment of three-pointers en route to the win. Their 20 made threes were the most by a Bellarmine opponent this season, five more than VCU hit in the opener on November 4. Their 54.1 percent clip beyond the arc was also the best mark by a Bellarmine opponent.
 
Bellarmine started strong out of the gate, jumping out to a quick 10-5 lead on five buckets by four different players, including a slam in transition by Karasinski. The Knights began the game 6-for-8, missing just a pair of threes, to go up 12-7.
 
Still, from that point, UNF would hit nine of their next 17 three-point attempts to build a 46-37 halftime lead. Bellarmine was able to hang around by hitting 46.9 percent of their shots in the first despite UNF hitting 56.7 percent and nailing 10-of-21 threes.
 
Early in the second half, the Knights would battle back to within five at 53-48 after bucket by Kenyon Goodin with 16:44 left, but from that point the Ospreys would regain a solid grasp of the momentum. UNF hit 16-of-25 field goals after that, 9-of-15 from deep, to build their lead and cruise to the 15-point win.
 
As well as Bellarmine shot for the game, 54.1 percent (their highest against a Division I opponent this season), North Florida hit 62.1 percent of their attempts, the second-highest percentage by a Knights opponent this season behind Wyoming's 65.6 percent. Bellarmine's output behind the three-point line, five makes, was just not enough to keep up with North Florida's 20.
 
Seven different Ospreys hit multiple three-pointers. Jasai Miles finished with a team-high 20 points, hitting 8-of-13 field goals and 3-of-6 threes. Liam Murphy scored 18 points, hitting 6-of-9 shots, all threes. Jaylen Smith added 14 on 6-of-10 shooting, 2-of-4 from deep.
 
Bellarmine is in action again next Thursday, January 16, as they host Lipscomb. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
 
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