LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Atlantic Sun newcomers West Georgia visited Knights Hall to face the Bellarmine men's basketball team for the first-ever meeting between the two programs on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Knights, the Wolves would spoil their Senior Day celebration.
 
In a game with two vastly different halves, Bellarmine fell 81-76 despite connecting on seven more field goals than the visitors.
 
The start of the game featured much of the same energy from Thursday night when the Knights pushed a tough Queens team to overtime. Kenyon Goodin went 4 for 4 from three in the first nine-plus minutes, giving him nine straight makes from beyond the arc going back to Thursday. As a team, the Knights hit 8 of 18 threes in the first to West Georgia's 4 of 8 as they built a 42-34 halftime lead, their first time leading at the break since the second ASUN game at Central Arkansas on January 4.
 
The Wolves, however, quickly erased the halftime deficit with a 14-4 run out of the locker room as they hit five of their first seven shots, four of five from beyond the arc, to lift them to a 48-46 lead at the first media timeout.
 
The run would extend to 20-6 before Jack Karasinski buried a three with 13:11 left to cut Bellarmine's deficit to three at 54-51. After the basket, however, head coach Scott Davenport was issued his second technical foul, warranting an automatic ejection.
 
UWG's lead would rise to 12 with 4:48 left before Bellarmine began chipping away. A three by Billy Smith with 56 seconds left capped a 9-2 run and cut the deficit to five. Playing the foul game, Bellarmine would have an empty next possession sandwiched by trips to the line by the Wolves resulting in three of four made freebies. Karasinski would hit a three with 20 seconds left to cut the lead to five once again, but West Georgia was true at the free throw line to seal the win. Karasinski added a dunk just before the clock expired to bring the contest to its final tally of 81-76.
 
Despite his hot start, Goodin would not attempt a field goal in the second half and finished with 12 points.
 
Karasinski was returning to action after missing Thursday's game against Queens and finished with a team-high 13 points in just 17 minutes.
 
Also returning to action was Ben Johnson, who had missed the last nine games with a leg injury. He hit one of four shots, a three, in 11 minutes of action.
 
Landin Hacker (11 points) and Smith (10 points) also cracked double digits.
 
Kyric Davis led all scorers with 26 and added three steals for UWG while Shelton Williams-Dryden added 21 and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
 
Both teams shot 46.9 percent from the field, but the Wolves converted 25 of 31 free throw attempts while Bellarmine made 4 of 6.
 
Bellarmine faces a quick turnaround as they welcome Austin Peay into Knights Hall on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
 
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow the Knights on X, Instagram and Facebook.