LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was on to the next for Bellarmine following a tough overtime loss at North Florida on Saturday. The Knights showed no signs of simmering frustration and never trailed Wednesday night as they disposed of West Georgia 77-74 in Knights Hall.
 
Bellarmine (8-13, 3-6 ASUN) shot 53.6 percent en route to claiming their third conference win, passing their total from last year. BU claimed their first win over West Georgia (10-11, 4-5 ASUN) in three tries and avenged an 87-85 loss in Carrollton on New Year's Day.
 
Tyler Doyle finished with a career high 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Jack Karasinski added 18 and Kenyon Goodin also finished in double digits with 10.
 
The Knights led by as many as nine in the first half, but that gap was closed to five by the halftime buzzer with the help of a Brady Hardewig three on UWG's final possession. Shelton Williams-Dryden, the second-leading scorer in the ASUN, tallied 11 first-half points.
 
Doyle put up 15 points in the first half on 6-for-9 shooting, helping the Knights carry a 36-31 lead into the locker room.
 
Despite not trailing and gaining a sizeable lead in the first 20 minutes, Bellarmine hit just 1 of 8 three-point attempts before the break—the make coming from Jacob Wassler, who also grabbed eight rebounds in 12 first-half minutes. It was just the third three-point make on the season for the freshman big man.
 
UWG tied it up at 39-39 early out of the break, the first tie since it was 0-0, but a Sam Donald dunk gave the lead right back to Bellarmine and started a 10-0 run. Donald, in fact, hit a three on the Knights' first possession of the second half for his first points of the game after dropping in a career-high 22 on Saturday at North Florida. The freshman finished the night with seven.
 
The Bellarmine lead climbed to as many as 13 at 71-58 as they maintained a relatively safe distance from there. The Wolves closed the gap to four a couple of times in the final two-plus minutes, but never threatened to tie or take the lead. UWG's Josh Smith banked in a long three at the buzzer to bring them to within three at the final tally, 77-74.
 
Bellarmine outscored West Georgia 46-32 in the paint after posting a 50-30 advantage in the teams' first meeting.
 
Still, West Georgia shot the ball well—51.7 percent from the floor and 52.4 percent from three (11 for 21)—but Bellarmine held a 10-3 advantage at the charity stripe to create the difference.
 
Wassler would connect on another three in the second half and finish with eight points and a career-high 11 rebounds, narrowly missing his first career double-double.
 
Williams-Dryden finished with a game-high 25 points. Smith (14 points) and Hardewig (12 points) each connected on four three-pointers.
 
Bellarmine returns to action Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET when they look to avenge another loss from earlier this month to Queens.
 
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