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Rockhurst University Athletics

Curtis Lewis
Curtis Lewis led the Hawks with 18 points.
64
Rockhurst RU 17-12
75
Winner Bellarmine BELL 24-4
Rockhurst RU
17-12
64
Final
75
Bellarmine BELL
24-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
Rockhurst RU 21 40 3 64
Bellarmine BELL 31 30 14 75

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Hawks give No. 11 Bellarmine a scare in GLVC Tournament

The underdog seventh-seeded Rockhurst Hawks gave second-seeded Bellarmine all it could handle before falling in overtime to the Knights, 75-64, in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Thursday at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Trailing by five in the final minute of regulation, Rockhurst rallied to tie the score at 61-61 and force an extra period. Sophomore guard Curtis Lewis scored seven points in the final 38 seconds, capped a game-tying 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds left on the clock.

The overtime was a different story as 11th-ranked Bellarmine scored the first six points and held the Hawks to three points on one-of-11 shooting. The Knights were a perfect 12-of-12 at the foul line.

"I thought we had the momentum going into overtime," said Rockhurst coach Drew Diener. "We wanted to stay with the same theme of playing power triangle basketball and trying to make them defend us inside. We had some threes in overtime, but they just didn't go down."
 
The Hawks dominated the second half after getting down 31-21 at halftime. Rockhurst outscored the Knights, 40-30, in the second half while connecting on 15-of-27 field goals. The Hawks closed the game on a 18-8 run over the final seven minutes.
 
"Our scouting report was to try to make them beat us from the outside because they have good length inside. We did a good pretty job of packing it in with that zone in the second half and we took them out of their offensive rhythm," Diener said.
 
"I thought our guys had great guts to grind back into the game. It wasn't looking good at many times. They killed us again at the line (23 of 25). We had some fouls early in the overtime and put them on the line. Our 17 turnovers were too much. We were too wound up at the beginning of the game and had 12 turnovers at the half."
 
Lewis led the Hawks with 18 points, including 11 points in the second half. He also collected four rebounds and three assists.
 
"Curtis is a great competitor and a really good offensive player," Diener said. "I feel he always delivers in big moments. We wanted to pound it inside, but we wanted to make sure he had ball in his hands a lot and I thought he did a great job."
 
Tyler Garrett came off the bench to score 11 points and Nick Volz finished with 10 points. Quinton Curry posted eight points and 11 rebounds. Connor Evans added eight rebounds and three steals in his final college game.
 
Rockhurst shot 38.9 percent from the field (21 of 54) and made 15 of 19 free throws (78.9 percent). Daniel Ramser led Bellarmine (24-4) with 20 points behind four-of-eight 3-point shooting. The Knights shot 40.7 percent from the field (22 of 54).
 
Small College Basketball tweeted out that it was a terrific college basketball game between two good, well-coached teams.
 
The Hawks finish the season with a 17-12 record, which is their highest win total since 2009-10.
 
"We have a great bunch of guys coming back and we only lose two seniors," added Diener. "We leave with a confidence that we can win even bigger in the league next year. Our guys don't back down. We were 10-10 and had lost five in a row. We came together and went on a heck of a run to make it a positive season."
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