RENSSELAER, Ind.--The No. 1 Bellarmine University men's basketball team gritted out a tough 78-75 victory over St. Joseph's College on Saturday afternoon in a Great Lakes Valley Conference road game.

The Knights (6-1, 1-1 GLVC) got big efforts from Jeremy Kendle and Chris Dowe in getting the win.  Kendle recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Dowe led the Knights in scoring with 20 while hitting three of four clutch free throws down the stretch.

"All in all in was a great, great win, and I'm incredibly  proud of our guys, said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "We dug in. We rebounded the ball, and we defended the three."

Bellarmine shot out to an early 12-point lead, but the Pumas (3-3, 0-2)  slowly chipped away at the lead and finally caught the Knights and pulled ahead at the 3:24 of the first half.  Luke Sprague banked home a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Knights a 42-38 lead at the break.

In the second period, Bellarmine came back and established a double digit lead, but as in the first half, St. Joseph's came back and grabbed a lead at the 6:28 mark.  From that point the lead see-sawed back and forth. 

A Dowe 3-pointer with less than three minutes put the Knights up 75-72, but SJC guard Dayvon Sloan came back with a trey to tie it at the 2:05 mark. 

Following a pair of misses by each team, Dowe was fouled while collecting an offensive rebound and hit one of two free throws to put the Knights up 76-75 with 1:06 remaining.  St. Joe's misfired on their ensuing possession, and Kendle came up with a big defensive rebound.

Bellarmine worked the clock down and Kendle's shot was blocked with just two clicks on the shot clock, but Dowe rose high above the crowd to grab the rebound was fouled on his put back attempt with 13.4 seconds remaining.

The junior from Eastern High School coolly connected on both charity tosses to put BU up 78-75, and the Knights defense held fast as Sloan misfired on the Pumas' final shot.

St. Joseph's Phillip Collins put up 22 points for game high honors while Sprague and Richie Phares chipped in 17 and 12 points respectively for the Knights.

After being soundly outrebounded by Indianapolis in Thursday's loss, Bellarmine came back to win the battle of the boards 36-26 over the Pumas.

The Knights finally return home to Knights Hall for their next game, meeting Ohio Valley on Friday, Dec. 9 in the second game of the Fern Valley Hotel Classic.  Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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