(Bellarmine University Release)
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The No. 12 Bellarmine University Knights lost
69-62 to the No. 8 Drury Panthers in the semifinals of the Deaconess Great Lakes
Valley Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Ford
Center.
The Knights forced the Panthers into 19 turnovers to keep the
game close despite getting outshot 64.7 percent to 40.7 percent. Drury and
Bellarmine both made 22 field goals, but the Knights shot 54 times compared to
just 34 for the Panthers.
"Our guys played as hard as they could," said
Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "We had 37 deflections and 35 is great
mark."
Davenport added, "At this time of the year in the greatest
conference in the country, everybody is going to play with great desire.
Everybody has tremendous ability; and everybody is well prepared. It just comes
down to execution. We turn them over 19 times, which is indicative of our
effort, but you've got to be able to convert those into easy baskets, and we
didn't do that. You give (Drury) credit, though. They're 24-4 for a
reason."
The No. 1-seeded Panthers opened the game with a quick 6-0 run
on a pair of Alex Hall 3-pointers, but Bellarmine answered with a 7-0 run to
take their first lead of the game at 7-6.
From that point, neither team
made a serious run with the largest lead being five by both squads for the
remainder of the half. Bellarmine, the tourney's No. 5 seed, took a 32-31 lead
into the locker room at halftime.
In the second period, Drury wrestled
the lead away from Bellarmine in the early going, and the Knights could not
battle their way back. Bellarmine did keep the game close, and tied the score
at 56-56 at the 3:06 mark.
The Panthers responded with a quick 6-0 run to
seemingly take control of the game, but Vance Hall gave the Knights fans hope by burying a three
from the right baseline to close the gap to 62-59 at the 1:04
mark.
However, with the Knights playing tight defense trying to force a
turnover, Drury got a run-out for a dunk. From that point the Knights were
forced to put up quick shots and give fouls, and Drury took advantage to go up
by 10 before a Ryan Burton trey made the final margin
seven.
Drury's Alex Hall led all scorers with 25 while Bellarmine was led
by Chris Dowe's 22. Vance Hall was the only other Knight to reach double
figures with 13.
Bellarmine falls to 22-7 on the season. Drury improves
to 24-4 and will meet the winner of the Wisconsin-Parkside vs. Southern Indiana
game in tomorrow's championship game.
Heading into today's game, Drury
and Bellarmine were ranked 1-2 in the NCAA regional rankings, so the Panthers
would seem to be a lock to earn the NCAA Midwest Region's No. 1 seed.
Bellarmine will learn their fate during Sunday's NCAA selection show, which will
be webcast on NCAA.com at 10:30 p.m.
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