LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Bellarmine Knights Men's Basketball hung tough and competed well, but ultimately fell short in a 99-85 road loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday afternoon.  With the result, the Knights wrap up non-conference play with an overall record of 5-7.

After the Wildcats scored the first point of the game at the free throw line, Jack Karasinski set the tone for his day by scoring five straight points to give the Knights an early 5-1 lead.  Kentucky answered with eight straight points before free throws from Brian Waddell and a layup from Karasinski tied things up at nine apiece.  The teams then traded buckets, with back-to-back layups from Michael Wilson Jr. giving Bellarmine a 15-14 lead just under seven minutes into the contest.  Kentucky later used a 7-2 run to break a 19-19 tie before a deep Donovan Hunter three-pointer with the shot clock winding down brought the Knights back to within two.  The Wildcats stretched their lead to nine with an 11-4 run, after which Kenyon Goodin hit a three-pointer and Karasinski followed up with a shot clock-beating deep three of his own to close the gap to three points.  Four straight Kentucky points were answered with layups from Wilson and Waddell, but the Wildcats scored the last five points of the half to make it 46-38 at halftime.

Kentucky scored the first three points of the second half to stretch their lead to double digits for the first time.  The two teams then traded buckets once more before an 8-2 run put the Wildcats up 62-47.  Bellarmine continued to hang around, going on a 9-3 run to get back to within single digits.  Kentucky countered with three straight Kam Williams three-pointers to up their lead to 18.  Bellarmine responded with another 7-2 run to cut the lead to 13 with just under eight minutes to go, but could not get any closer as the Wildcats kept the Knights at arms' length for the remainder of the contest.

Karasinski led the Knights with 24 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line, his fifth straight 20-plus point effort and his third game of at least 17 points against a power conference opponent this season.  Wilson came off the bench to score 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and lead the Knights with five rebounds.  Waddell also scored 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting and Goodin scored 11 points and led the Knights with four assists.  Hunter contributed off the bench with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Despite the loss, Bellarmine led Kentucky 38-34 in points in the paint.  As a team, the Knights effectively ran their half-court offense against the Wildcats all afternoon long, shooting 26-of-50 from the field, marking the ninth time in the last ten games that they've shot at least 50 percent from the field as a team.

Up next, the Knights will begin ASUN conference play on the road against West Georgia on New Year's Day. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 PM.

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