JACKSONVILLE, Fl. – A team that consistently relies on its offense to win games, Bellarmine University men's basketball turned up the defensive pressure down the stretch, securing an 82-79 win over Jacksonville in the opening round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship at UNF Arena.

After allowing just 32 points in the first half, the Knights (13-18, 7-11 ASUN) had their work cut out for them in the second half as Jacksonville brought its offense to another level. With Down one point with 3:53 left in the game, Bellarmine brought it's a game on defense, not allowing another Dolphin basket for the remainder of play.

On the offensive end, it was redshirt senior Brian Waddell who delivered the go-ahead basket. The forward slipped behind the Jacksonville defense on the baseline before delivering a two-handed slam to put Bellarmine ahead 80-79. Following the bucket, freshman Sam Donald delivered two free throws to push the lead to three.

Bellarmine dominated the first half of play and was once again led by the ASUN's leading scorer, senior Jack Karasinski. The forward turned in all 10 of Bellarmine's first points, including two threes. After a back-and-forth affair early, sophomore Tyler Doyle extended the Knights' lead 26-17 after hitting a contested three and tough driving layup on back-to-back possessions.

With 2:12 left in the opening half, BU went on a run, scoring 10 straight points to go up 17, the largest lead of the half before a final JU bucket sent Bellarmine into the locker room with a 47-32 lead.

The Knights opened the second half on another heater, scoring six straight points to push the lead to a game-high 19 at 56-37.

From there, Jacksonville (12-20, 7-11 ASUN) started chipping away before going on a red-hot 16-0 run to storm back and take a 64-62 lead. The Dolphins continued to maintain control for the next few minutes before Bellarmine locked in on defense, resulting in the final run to give the Knights the 82-79 victory.

Karasinski finished the contest with a game-high 31 points, adding five rebounds and an assist. Waddell turned in an efficient 15-point performance on 5-of-8 shooting while collecting a team-high seven boards. Doyle added 14 points and game-high seven assists while redshirt sophomore Kenyon Goodin rounded out the group with 11 points, hitting three of his five three-point attempts.

Jacksonville was led by impressive performances out of its youthful backcourt duo of freshman Hayden Wood and sophomore Chris Lockett. Wood turned in 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, adding six rebounds and two assists. Lockett was one point behind, recording 22 with four rebounds and led Jacksonville's second half surge, scoring 15 points in the stanza.

The Knights will continue their ASUN Championship run on Friday, March 6, taking on Central Arkansas at VyStar Arena at 12 pm E.T.

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