NASHVILLE, TENN. - - On Senior Day for Belmont Basketball, a junior stole the show. Behind several clutch plays on both ends of the floor from junior Andy Wicke (Hendersonville, Tenn.), Belmont Basketball earned a hard-fought 76-73 victory over Gardner-Webb Saturday.

It marked the final games at the Curb Event Center for senior Justin Hare (Cleveland, Tenn.), junior Will Peeples (Little Rock, Ark.) and junior Andrew House (Nashville, Tenn.), each part of multiple championship teams.

But it was the visiting Bulldogs - winners of five of their last six games – who seized control early. A three-pointer by Aaron Linn put Gardner-Webb up 8-0 less than two minutes in. After going 14-for-28 from three-point territory in Thursday night’s victory over Campbell, Belmont missed its first for long range attempts – foreshadowing an atypical day for the Bruins behind the arc.

As expected, end to end play ensued. Belmont took its first lead, 18-17, eight minutes in on three free throws from Wicke. The lead grew to seven, 30-23, on a darting layin from junior Alex Renfroe (Hermitage, Tenn.).

After Grayson Flittner trimmed the margin to two, junior Matthew Dotson (Centerville, Tenn.) sank a three-pointer to extend to 38-32. Two Renfroe free throws sent Belmont to the locker room up five, 40-35.

The score belied poor first half shooting, as the Bruins shot just 39 percent (14-for-36) – including 5-for-18 from three-point distance. Renfroe led the way with 14 points at the break.

But a new half would not yield Belmont new shooting fortune and Gardner-Webb took advantage. A layin from Aaron Linn gave the Bulldogs a 45-44 edge with 14:14 left.

Wicke quickly replied with two-three pointers to put the Bruins ahead 52-47 with 12:45 to go.

Six straight points from Thomas Sanders notted the score at 56, before a tough layin from junior Shane Dansby (Pegram, Tenn.) and a wing trey from Hare bumped the Bruin lead back to five.

Momentum teetered back and forth, before Gardner-Webb strung together consecutive threes from Linn and Nate Blank to claim a 67-64 advantage with 4:18 to go.

Gardner-Webb led 69-66 before Dotson scored on a backdoor feed to get the Bruins within one with 2:59 left.

Then after an exchange of empty trips, Linn fouled Hare in transition with 1:53 to go. Linn fouled out and Hare sank both free throws to give Belmont a 70-69 edge.

But Blank responded with a gutsy baseline three-pointer to put Gardner-Webb up 72-70 with 1:40 remaining.

After a Hare missed three-pointer, Brandon Jackson made one of two free throws to extend the Bulldog lead to three, 73-70, with 1:08 left. Fouled on a drive, Renfroe sank one of two free throws himself to cut the margin to 73-71 with a minute left.

Following a Bruin timeout to set up pressure defense, Wicke stole the ball from Jackson. Belmont head coach Rick Byrd proceeded to call timeout to draft an offensive possession.

After an initial postup to Dansby failed to materialize, Wicke buried a wing three-pointer with 46 seconds left to give Belmont a 74-73 lead.

Gardner-Webb turned then to Sanders, whose shot at the rim was denied by solid helpside defense from freshman Jordan Campbell (Indianapolis, Ind.). After being fouled on the rebound, Wicke sank two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 76-73.

Wicke then hounded Flittner on the final possession, forcing his potential game-tying three-pointer to miss the mark.

For the game, Belmont shot just 35 percent from the field (24-for-68) – including 9-for-33 from three-point territory. But the Bruins had 11 offensive rebounds and committed just nine turnovers.

Renfroe led the way with a career-high 17 points. Wicke had 16 points and four steals, Dansby added 15 points and nine rebounds. Dotson had 14.

Sanders led Gardner-Webb (15-15, 9-7 Atlantic Sun) with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

With the victory, Belmont secures its first-ever outright Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship. The Bruins (22-8, 14-2 Atlantic Sun) – winners of 10 consecutive games – also earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.

Belmont will face Campbell this coming Wednesday, Mar. 5 at approximately 8:15 pm CT from Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena. The game is scheduled to be broadcast live on CSS.

For Atlantic Sun Tournament ticket information, complete seedings and brackets, log onto www.atlanticsun.org.