JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—The Bellarmine men's basketball team found itself on the wrong side of an ASUN Conference instant classic on Saturday, falling 117-114 in overtime at North Florida as
Kenyon Goodin's potential game-tying three-pointer glanced off the front rim as time expired.
The fact that the Knights forced overtime in the first place is a testament to the team's resilience. Bellarmine erased a 14-point deficit in the final 3:44 of regulation, and perhaps even more remarkable was battling back from being down 102-93 with just 39 seconds remaining.
Over that span, the Knights got an old-fashioned three-point play from
Sam Donald, who followed that by getting a steal on the ensuing UNF possession. Although Donald missed a trifecta,
Jack Karasinski was fouled on the rebound, and he drained both free throws to bring BU to within four at 102-98. An offensive foul on UNF's Devin Hines gave the ball back to the Knights with 21 seconds remaining.
Tyler Doyle then scored a layup off a Goodin pass and was fouled in the process. Doyle missed the free throw, but Bellarmine got the offensive rebound with 13 ticks left on the clock. Doyle could not convert a game-tying layup, but
Brian Waddell was there for the Knights, and he knotted the score at 102 with his putback with just 1.5 seconds showing on the clock.
A desperation heave by the Ospreys was off the mark, so it was on to overtime.
Bellarmine scored the first four points in the extra session, but the home team heated up from deep and UNF's third triple of OT gave the Ospreys a 115-112 advantage with 19 seconds remaining. From there, the game became a free throw battle. Karasinski made a pair of charity tosses for the Knights with 4.8 seconds remaining, but UNF's Kamrin Oriol matched that just .9 seconds later. The Knights threw deep on the inbounds pass and shuffled a pass to Goodin who got off a well-defended and deep 3-pointer that came up just short to end the game.
Bellarmine (7-13, 2-6 ASUN) had stand out offensive performances throughout the lineup with all five starters scoring at least 17 points. Waddell led the way with a career-high 26 points and added five assists and three rebounds.
Also notching a career high was Donald with 22 points on eight of 10 shooting while knocking down five of six triples. Doyle, meanwhile, fell two points shy of his career-best effort with 17, but the Lexington native set a new personal standard with eight assists.
Rounding out the top performances for BU were Karasinski with 23 points and Goodin, who contributed 18 points and hauled in a team-high six rebounds.
Bellarmine's 114 points set a new D-1 era scoring record for the Knights, besting the 110 BU put up against Alice Lloyd on Dec. 4, 2022.
Unfortunately for the Knights, the North Florida Ospreys (5-16, 3-5 ASUN) also had career performances posted on their side of the floor. Oriol, the ASUN scoring leader, had a monster game with career highs in points and assists, totaling 33 and 15, respectively. Meanwhile, NFU's Kent Jackson was deadly from 3-point range, where he canned nine of 15 triples and finished with 27 points.
Both teams turned in impressive offensive numbers, combining to go 82 of 135 (60.7 percent) from the field. Bellarmine was 43 of 72 (59.7 percent) while North Florida converted on 39 of 63 (61.9 percent). Even more impressive was the Osprey's three-point shooting where they made half of their 39 attempts to outdistance, the Knights who were a respectable 12 of 27 from deep. At the free throw line, where the teams entered as the two most accurate in the league, UNF was 20 of 23 while BU made 16 of 20.
The game was moved up to an 11 a.m. tip to allow Bellarmine to return to Louisville early in an attempt to beat the predicted heavy snowfall predicted for the weekend. Once back in Kentucky, the Knights are set for a 4-game homestand beginning Wednesday when they host ASUN newcomer West Georgia at 7 p.m. in Knights Hall.
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