CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Much like the last time the Bellarmine men's basketball team went head-to-head with Austin Peay at F&M Bank Arena, 40 minutes of play would not be enough to decide a winner. After trailing by 11 at the break on Thursday night, the Knights mounted a comeback in the second half with the help of a 14-0 run, but ultimately fell to the Governors in overtime 86-77.
 
Junior guard Billy Smith scored 25 points for his team-leading fifth 20-point effort. Guards Kenyon Goodin and Myles Watkins each contributed 12, with Watkins matching a career high.
 
Knights leading scorer Jack Karasinski finished with 12 points after exiting the game with 4:23 left following a foul by APSU's Sai Witt which, after review, was upgraded to a flagrant 1. After the foul on a dunk attempt, the junior forward landed hard on the court, received attention from the training staff and did not return.
 
Despite the second-half rally by Bellarmine, the overtime period was controlled by the Govs. After a layup by Watkins with 1:29 left brought the Knights back within three, APSU scored the last six points of the game at the free throw line, missing just once, to pull away for their fourth ASUN win.
 
Bellarmine went just 3-for-10 in the extra time, making three layups, as the Govs connected on all four attempts from the field, including a three, en route to outscoring the Knights 15-6.
 
After trailing by 15 early in the second stanza, Bellarmine rattled off their 14-0 run to take a 60-59 lead with 6:30 left and set up a back-and-forth finish to regulation. Smith made a jumper with 10 seconds left to put Bellarmine up two, but Quan Lax took it the length of the floor and dropped a layup in with 4.5 seconds left to tie the contest at 71-all. On the ensuing possession, a drawn-up full-court play got Landin Hacker a three-point attempt in the corner, but the shot was tipped by Lax.
 
The bucket for Lax was his only field goal of the night.
 
It looked like APSU might run away with the game early on. APSU led 42-31 at halftime behind 16 first half points by Isaac Haney, including one of his four made threes at the buzzer. The Knights were minus six on the glass in the first half as seven Govs offensive rebounds led to eight points. Haney added just one point in the second half.
 
Smith scored 11 first half points, including three of the Knights' four three-pointers. The rest of his 25 came in the second half and he was held scoreless in overtime.
 
Witt matched Smith's 25 points to tie for the game high. The 6-foot-8, 270-pound forward made half of his 14 shot attempts, all of which came at the basket, and connected on 11-of-14 free throws as he used his size to his advantage over BU's defenders. Anton Brookshire scored 21 and dished out a game-high five assists.
 
Witt also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to give him his second straight double-double and third on the year. As a team, the Govs outrebounded the Knights 44-32, securing 14 on the offensive end and scoring 17 second chance points overall.
 
Last season, the Govs defeated the Knights 90-87 in overtime in the regular season finale, dashing Bellarmine's final hopes of securing a spot in the ASUN Tournament. Ben Johnson scored a career-high 34 points in that game, but on Thursday missed his fifth straight game with an injury.
 
Bellarmine heads east to Nashville to take on Lipscomb Saturday evening at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and ESPN 680/105.7.
 
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