JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Junior forward Jack Karasinski made 11 of 17 field goals and scored 28 points Thursday night at UNF Arena, but it would not be enough to get the Knights over the hump as Bellarmine fell to North Florida 95-88.
 
The Grand Rapids, Mich., native's 28 established a new career high and were the most points by a Knights since junior guard Billy Smith dropped a career-high 33 against Ball State on December 14. Karasinski's previous career high, 27 points, came in the Knights' first matchup with the Ospreys on January 11 in Knights Hall.
 
Things looked promising early as Bellarmine jumped out to an 11-8 lead after sinking a trio of threes, but UNF would respond with a 20-6 run, hitting five of six threes, to take a 28-17 lead.
 
The Knights battled back to within three at 28-25, but UNF again responded with a scoring spurt, this time a 13-5 run to establish a 41-30 lead. Undeterred, Bellarmine would hit five of their next nine shots to go into the locker room down just four at 45-41. Karasinski led the Knights with 11 first-half points, connecting on five of nine shots—four layups and just one three.
 
In the second half, Bellarmine took its first lead at 53-52 after a pair of free throws by redshirt freshman Kenyon Goodin with 15:29 left. It would be a back-and-forth sequence featuring three more lead changes from there until UNF built a seven-point lead with 10:14 left.
 
Grant Whitaker hit a layup to cap a 6-0 run and bring the Knights within one at 67-66 with 9:07 left, but the Ospreys responded once again with an 18-8 run to go up 85-74.
 
The Knights would be reenergized once more after a five-point possession late in the game. Following a technical foul on UNF's Jasai Miles, Karasinski sank two technical free throws and then made a layup and was fouled on the ensuing possession, hitting another free throw to bring the Knights from down 11 to down six with 2:45 left.
 
After the Ospreys scored four straight points, Bellarmine answered with a 5-0 run to slice the lead to five with 1:16 left, but UNF made their final six free throws to ice the game.
 
The team most known for its prolific three-point shooting hit 27 of 28 free throw attempts on the night (.964), the best mark by a Knights opponent this season.
 
Smith hit 4 of 6 threes and finished with 14 points. Kenyon Goodin (12 points), Tyler Doyle (11) and Landin Hacker (11) also broke double digits for Bellarmine.
 
Redshirt junior guard Ben Johnson missed his seventh straight game with an injury.
 
Miles finished with 22 points, hitting 4 of 10 threes, and eight rebounds. Kamrin Oriol went 5-for-8 from deep and scored 21 points. The Ospreys went 12-for-28 from beyond the arc for the game for 42.9 percent, besting their 35.9 percent average entering the night.
 
The Knights will remain in Jacksonville this weekend to face the Jacksonville Dolphins Saturday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ and ESPN 680/105.7
 
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