| Fresh off a thrilling 67-66 upset victory over Louisville in its season opener on Wednesday, the Bellarmine men’s basketball returns to action on Saturday in the home arena of another in-state foe, the Morehead State Eagles. Meeting for the first time in nearly 44 years, the Knights and Eagles are scheduled for an 8 p.m. tip at Johnson Arena on the Morehead campus. The Eagles are the preseason favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference after going 23-11 a season ago. After a road loss to Indiana to open its season, Morehead cruised to a 99-58 victory over Campbellsville-Harrodsburg in its home opener on Thursday. Morehead’s top returner is senior guard Mark Freeman, who was selected to the Preseason All-OVC Team. He led Eagles with 14 points against the No. 13 Hoosiers but had to make an early exit from the game with an injury and did not play against CU-Harrodsburg. In his absence, Three of the Eagles’ returnees – Drew Thelwell, Tucson Redding and LJ Bryan – established multiple career highs against CUH. Redding had personal bests in rebounds (4) assists (5) and steals (3). Thelwell had his best game as an Eagle in terms of points (14), rebounds (5), and assists (4). Bryan, who was 8-of-10 shooting, set a new career high with 16 points Bellarmine is the defending ASUN Conference champion after winning the postseason tournament title game in Freedom Hall this past March 8 to finish the season 20-13. The Knights’ lone regular season game at this point is the Louisville contest, but Bellarmine did get in an exhibition game-a 71-34 triumph over Centre on Oct. 27. The Knights’ top returner is Juston Betz, who was named the ASUN’s preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Against Louisville, he paced the Knights in rebounding with six. Just as Morehead had a number of players set new career records in its last outing, Bellarmine got career scoring nights from two seniors in the Louisville game. Garett Tipton tossed in a game-high and career-high 21 points while Bash Wieland notched 13. Fans can follow the game on ESPN+ as well as get the radio call from the regular Bellarmine tandem of Doug Ormay and Mark Bugg. The game will be aired on ESPN 680 AM/105.7 FM as well as streamed live through the station’s “listen live” option. For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights), Facebook (BUKnights) |
