Bellarmine senior Garrett Tipton scored a game-high 21 points and the Knights held on for a season-opening 67-66 victory over host Louisville on Wednesday after the Cardinals missed two jump shots in the final seconds.
Tipton, who scored 12 second-half points, shot 9-for-16 from the field, while Bash Wieland made 11 of his 12 free-throw attempts to finish with 13 points.
Bellarmine earned its first win over a Power 5 school since joining Division I two years ago.
Ben Johnson scored eight points by sinking both his 3-point attempts and adding a pair of free throws, while Langdon Hatton and Alec Pfriem each added seven points apiece for the Knights.
Louisville, which trailed by 12 with 4:41 remaining, was led by Jae’Lyn Withers’ 17 points, while Mike James added 16 points. El Ellis had 14 points and five assists, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield recorded nine points and 10 rebounds.
After mustering just 10 first-half field goals to trail 41-30 at halftime, the Cardinals opened the second half by making six of their first 10 shots during a 16-9 run to pull to within 50-46 following Ellis’ layup with 12:57 remaining.
The Cardinals maintained their momentum and got to within 59-55 on Kamari Lands’ two free throws with 6:41 to go.
However, Tipton hit two free throws and followed with a layup, a fall-away jumper and a layup on consecutive possession to stretch the lead to 67-55 with 4:41 left.
Louisville made its final push by going on an 11-0 run to pull to within 67-66 on James’ 3-pointer with 1:02 remaining. Ellis missed the front end of a one-and-one with 43 seconds left that would have tied the game.
After a Bellarmine turnover with 27.3 seconds left, Lands missed a baseline jumper with eight seconds left and Roosevelt Wheeler’s follow from close range clanged off the rim with four seconds to play.
Bellarmine shot 21 of 43 (48.8 percent) from the field, including 7 of 15 (46.7 percent) from beyond the arc, and scored 16 points off Louisville’s 13 turnovers.
Louisville outrebounded the Knights 32-26 but shot 22 of 52 (42.3 percent) from the field and 11 of 28 (39.3 percent) from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media