LOUISVILLE, KY. – Great Lakes Valley Conference office announced Monday that Bellarmine University junior guard Rusty Troutman has garnered the first Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week honor for the 2015-16 men's basketball season. Troutman strung together back-to-back career highs in leading the Knights to a pair of wins over highly respected in-region opponents on Saturday and Sunday. 

In Saturday's 89-79 victory over Northwood, the Mt. Washington, Kentucky native hit 7-of-11 from the field and drained 11-of-12 from the free-throw line for a career-high 27 points.  The next night out, the 6-5 guard eclipsed that performance by pouring in 29 points while hitting 75 percent of his 12 shots in the Knights' 93-81 home win against Saginaw Valley State.  In that victory, Troutman also posted four rebounds, three assists and three steals.  

On the week, he averaged 28 points a game, while hitting 69.6 percent of his shots, including going 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.  He also sank 18 of his 22 free-throw attempts (81.8 percent) and averaged 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds a contest while turning the ball over a total of just three times.  He also had solid defensive numbers with three steals and blocked shot.

Troutman earns his first career weekly selection and it is the first for the Knights since Jake Thelen was honored on March 2, 2015.