LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bellarmine Knights hosted their first Atlantic Sun Conference Championship game Tuesday night at Freedom Hall in Louisville. CJ Fleming scored a career-high 27 points, Dylan Penn added 22 and Division I newcomer Bellarmine defeated Jacksonville 77-72 in the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament on Tuesday, handing the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament to regular-season champion Jacksonville State.
The Knights, in the second of a four-year transition to D-1, became heroes in Jacksonville, Alabama. Top-seeded JSU fell at home 54-51 to the Dolphins on Saturday, but since Bellarmine is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks will go dancing.
Bellarmine made 11 of 12 free throws in the last two minutes with Fleming perfect on eight, to hold off Jacksonville, which made 5 of 8 field goals, two of them 3s, down the stretch.
The Knights rolled into the championship game with a 9-4 home court record and averaging 69.9 points per game. Bellarmine has outscored opponents by 2.9 points per game, according to AP.
Bellarmine beat Liberty 53-50 Saturday in the semifinals to reach their first chance to play in the championship game to advance to the ASUN Championship game.
Jacksonville, which joined the ASUN in 1998, was seeking its first league championship and first NCAA berth in 36 years.
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Sunday, the Knights shared a “permission slip” on Twitter for those looking to leave work early for a little basketball action.
The slip asks for the attendee to have permission to be excused from work or school in order to “make it to the game on time and cheer for the Knights.”
It was signed by beloved Head Coach Scotty Davenport.
This is the first time Bellarmine has hosted the conference. According to a press release from 2019, Bellarmine accepted the invitation to join the ASUN Conference to elevate the athletics program to Division 1 (D1).
The college officially became a D1 school on July 1, 2020 according to the university. This makes Bellarmine the only private D1 university in Kentucky and one of few Catholic D1 universities in the south it states.
This move elevated all 22 varsity sports to D1. Seventeen of them are part of the ASUN Conference the 2020 release states.
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