JACKSONVILLE, Fl. – A whirlwind of a season for Bellarmine men's basketball came to a close on Friday afternoon in VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena as the Knights fell 86-73 to No. 1 seed Central Arkansas in the quarter finals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.

Bellarmine (13-19, 7-11 ASUN) had an impressive turnaround in year one of the Doug Davenport era. The Knights nearly tripled their overall win total, and did that and more in conference play, while notching the program's first postseason victory since 2023.

The Knights hit the first shot of the game as redshirt sophomore Kenyon Goodin drilled a three in the opening minutes.

From there, Central Arkansas (21-11, 15-3 ASUN) worked its way in front and never looked back, leading for the rest of the game.

Senior Jack Karasinski hit a three at buzzer to send the Knights into half on a high note, cutting the deficit down to 14 at 48-34.

Out of the break, UCA was red-hot. The Bears hit seven of their first 10 shots in the half, including 6-of-7 from beyond the arc, to surge ahead to a 68-41 lead.

Bellarmine continued to battle in the second half, and got as close as 13, but the damage was already done as Central Arkansas cruised to an 86-73 win.

Despite the loss, the Bellarmine still had plenty to celebrate. Karasinski notched another 20-point game, scoring a team-high 23 with three rebounds and two assists. On his second basket of the game, the forward recorded his 1,000^th career point as Knight, becoming the 44^th player in program history to do so. His 1,000 points in 54 games is the fastest, by far, of any Knight, topping Al Stevenson's record of 71 games.

Redshirt senior Brian Waddell contributed 15 points and a team-high 5 rebounds while sophomore Tyler Doyle added 12 points and a team best six assists. Senior Myles Watkins provided valuable minutes for the Knights, igniting the spark that kept the team going in the second half.

Overall, the reigning ASUN Player of the Year Camren Hunter had his day, leading the Bears with a game-high 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting. Three other Bears recorded double-digit games in Ty Robinson (12 points), Luke Moore (14 points) and Harrison Beauchamp (12 points).

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