In what was billed as one of the marquee matchups of the season in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the Bellarmine-Quincy game did not disappoint as the visiting Knights pulled out a 103-96 overtime victory in Pepsi Arena that will go down in the Bellarmine Athletics annals as an “instant classic.”
Coming into the contest, Bellarmine ranked No. 9 (NABC) and No. 11 (Media) in the two major Division II polls while the Hawks came in at No. 10 (Media) and No. 24 (NABC).
Thursday night’s game featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes and big time plays from both teams. With just 13 seconds remaining in regulation, Quincy’s Joseph Tagarelli converted a spinning layup and a free throw that wrestled the lead away from Bellarmine. Then, the Knights’ Adam Eberhard, who poured in a career-high 30 points, hit a clutch jumper from inside the lane with just 2.9 seconds remaining to knot the score at 85 and force the extra period.
Bellarmine never trailed in the extra frame as Jarek Coles and Tyler Jenkins combined to score 14 of the Knights’ 18 overtime points. However, the Hawks kept it close by hitting their first two 3-pointers of overtime, the second of which tied the score at 94 with 2:08 remaining.
Then, after a Jenkins basket, BU’s Al Davis stripped Quincy point guard Herm Senor and converted a layup to stake the Knights to a four-point advantage. However, on the ensuing inbounds play, Davis was whistled for his fifth foul to send Quincy to the free throw line.
Evan McGaughey, who pumped in 30 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Hawks, converted both of the free throws to close the gap to 98-96 with 1:28 remaining in the game.
After Bellarmine took more than 20 seconds off the clock, Coles delivered what turned out to be the fatal blow by nailing his second trifecta of the overtime.
Facing a five-point deficit, Quincy launched a quick three, and Coles corralled the rebound for the Knights. The Hawks elected not to foul, and Bellarmine milked the clock under 30 seconds but then misfired on a deep jumper.
Quincy rebounded and bolted down the court trying for a quick score, but Bellarmine’s Alex Cook raced to the defensive end and swatted McGaughey’s layup attempt out of bounds. The Hawks fired a quick triple that was off the mark and Jenkins rebounded the miss and got the ball to Coles, who was fouled.
Coles converted both free throws with just seven seconds on the clock to make the final margin seven points.
“This is why you coach,” said Bellarmine Head Coach Scott Davenport. “We played our hearts out. The leadership we had tonight from George Knott, Rusty Troutman and Al Davis was tremendous.”
The game opened with the Knights taking the early lead, building an 11-point advantage a little past the midway point of the first half. The homestanding Hawks responded with a 16-4 run to reclaim the lead and owned a 39-38 halftime advantage.
“You have to give them (Quincy) credit,” Davenport said. “They were 15-1 for a reason. There aren’t 10 teams in the country better than Quincy.”
After the break, the Hawks extended their lead to 53-44 at the 15:20 mark. The Knights reeled off six straight points to keep themselves in the game, but Quincy hung tough and did not surrender the lead.
Finally at the 4:40 mark, Cook drained a 3-pointer to put Bellarmine ahead 72-70, and the game remained a one-possession game until the overtime period.
A look at the final statistics confirms the outstanding play. Both teams entered the game among the top eight in the nation in field goal percentage, and both shot better than 50 percent on Thursday. The Knights drained 58.3 percent of their shots, including a blistering six of eight in overtime. The Hawks hit 33 of 65 shots for 50.3 percent, which included going 12 of 28 from beyond the 3-point line.
With both teams performing at a high level on the offensive end, the difference could have come at the free throw line where Bellarmine was simply “lights out,” making 23 of 24 (95.8%) while Quincy made just 18 of 28 (64.3%).
The Knights’ Rusty Troutman was a perfect 13 of 13 from the charity stripe as the preseason All-American scored a season-high 25 points.
Five players scored in double digits for Bellarmine as the Knights hit the century mark for the first time this season. Joining Eberhard and Troutman in double digits were Jenkins with 14 points while Coles finished with 10, and Davis dropped in 11 despite seeing limited minutes due to foul trouble.
The Hawks also placed five in double figures: McGaughey, 30; Tagarelli, 24; Von Washington, 15; Senor, 10; and Sellersburg, Indiana native Grant Meyer, 12.
Bellarmine improves to 13-2 on the season and is one of four GLVC East teams with a perfect 5-0 league record.
The loss snapped a 14-game winning streak for Quincy as the Hawks fall to 15-2, but remain atop the GLVC West standings with a 5-1 conference record.
The Knights now move on to play Truman State on Friday at 4 p.m. (EST). The game had originally been scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip, but the start time was moved up in anticipation of potentially hazardous travel conditions due to snow and ice.
by John Spugnardi
