MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Bellarmine Knights Men's Basketball was competitive in spurts, but came up short in the end in a 98-71 road loss to the Kansas State Wildcats. With the loss, the Knights fall to 0-2 in two road games against power conference competition on the young season.
Jack Karasinski scored the first five points of the evening for the Knights in what was a competitive early going. That began to change when Kansas State broke a 10-10 tie with a 15-2 run. The Wildcats kept the Knights at arms' length for the remainder of the first half, getting their first half lead to as high as 18 before taking a 46-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Kansas State kept up the momentum in the second half, taking a 19-point lead with 17:35 remaining. The Knights were then able to mount an 11-3 run that was capped off by five straight points from Karasinski to make it 58-47 with 15:30 to go. A Wildcat free throw and made basket extended it back to 14, but
Brian Waddell converted an and-one opportunity to cut it back down to 61-50. After another Kansas State free throw,
Jacob Wassler hit a layup to make it 62-52 with just over 13 minutes to go, but the Knights would not get any closer, as a subsequent 11-6 run by the Wildcats increased the lead back up to 15. Back-to-back Bellarmine layups by
Michael Wilson Jr. and
Myles Watkins cut it back down to 11 before Kansas State effectively iced the game with a 14-5 run.
Wilson led the Knights with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, and also collected three steals. Karasinski was right behind him with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting and a team-high five rebounds. Waddell contributed with 11 points and four rebounds and Wassler scored 10 points in 10 minutes. Freshman
Tommy Clark connected on his first career basket with a three-pointer.
Despite the loss, the Knights did manage to outscore the Wildcats 46-38 in points in the paint.
Up next, Bellarmine will play their home opener against Hanover College on Wednesday, November 12 at 7 PM.
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