Justin Taylor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Miners couldn’t slow down a hot shooting team in the first half and that ended up proving costly in their hopes of gaining a split on the weekend road trip.

Bellarmine scorched the nets at a 55.2 percent clip in the opening half and went on to record an 85-72 win over the Miners Saturday afternoon in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Knights Hall.

The Knights got off to a bit of a slow start against the Miner defense, as UMR led for most of the first eight minutes of the contest. But after Marquis Jones hit two free throws at the 11:37 mark to tie the score, Bellarmine rattled off 13 straight points to take a 29-16 lead with 8:11 to go in the half.

Bellarmine’s advantage never shrunk below double figures after that run, but the Miners came out in the second half and scored seven of the first nine points to get to within 12 on a three-point basket by Justin Taylor.

However, the Knights responded by outscoring UMR 23-10 over the next nine minutes to put the game out of reach.

The Miners were led in scoring by Yamani Ball with 22 points, while Taylor, who did not start the game, scored 13 points in 21 minutes of action. UMR shot 39.3 percent for the game as they fell for the fourth straight time.

After the Knights’ big first half, the Miners held them to under 40 percent from the field after the intermission.

UMR (6-9, 1-7 GLVC) will host Wisconsin-Parkside Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.