LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team hung around in the second half against Florida Gulf Coast Thursday night at Knights Hall, but ultimately fell by a 77-61 final.
 
The Eagles, who remain tied atop the ASUN standings at 6-1, shot 53.6 percent from the field, the second-highest mark this season by a Knights' ASUN opponent, and sank 13 of 27 three-point attempts. They assisted on 20 of their 30 made field goals en route to their fifth straight win.
 
Bellarmine shot 37.7 percent for the game, their third straight contest without Ben Johnson.
 
FGCU started the night 11-for-14, hitting four of their first six threes, and rattled off a 16-0 run early to build a 26-11 lead. Bellarmine started just 4-for-16 and 1-for-7 from beyond the arc. The Knights were able to battle back in the waning minutes of the first half, hitting five of their last six shots, including a buzzer-beating jumper by Kenyon Goodin, to close the gap to 11 points at 41-30.
 
After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, Bellarmine cut the deficit to eight early in the second half after a short jumper by Curt Hopf made it 45-37. The Eagles proceeded to bounce right back with a 14-5 run that started with threes on back-to-back possessions by Dallion Johnson and ended with layups on back-to-back possessions by Michael Duax to establish a 17-point lead at 59-42.
 
Bellarmine would not be able to establish another run at the Eagles as FGCU hit six of their last seven shots and four of their last five threes to seal the win.
 
The offense was spread around the Knights starters as four out of the five tallied double-digit points, led by Billy Smith's 16. It was his first game back in the starting lineup after missing last Thursday's game and coming off the bench on Saturday. He leads the Knights with 14 double-digit scoring efforts.
 
Jack Karasinski added 12, Hopf netted a season-high 11 and Goodin scored 10 to give him double-digit points in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
 
A senior guard, Johnson scored a career-high 26 points for FGCU with an 8-for-14 effort from beyond the arc. Senior guard Zavian McLean added 16 on 6-of-8 shooting and junior forward Michael Duax poured in 12.
 
The Knights are back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. as they take on Stetson inside Knights Hall.
 
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