LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The No. 2 Bellarmine University men's basketball team bolted out to quick double digit lead and rolled by the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis 87-64 tonight in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at Knights Hall.

The Knights ran out to an 18-5 lead over the first eight minutes of the game and were never really threatened as the GLVC "East" leaders posted a 23-point victory over the GLVC "West" leaders. 

Senior Jeremy Kendle led the offensive attack for Bellarmine with 19 points.  Braydon Hobbs had another all around solid game with 13 points and team bests with six assists and six rebounds. The New Albany junior continues to climb the charts in the Bellarmine record book.  Tonight, he moved into fourth place on the all-time assist list, and his three, 3-pointers moved him into third for most career treys. 

With the win, Bellarmine moves to 14-1 overall, which ties the 2008-09 team for best 15-game start in school history.  The Knights upped their conference record to 7-0, which keeps them one game ahead of Southern Indiana in the conference standings as the Screaming Eagles moved to 6-1 with their victory over Drury tonight.

The Tritons fell to 9-5 (4-3 GLVC) despite another outstanding performance by GLVC scoring leader Gerald Fulton, who poured in 32 points on 12 of 24 shooting, including 6-12 from long range.  Justyn Watkyns added 20 for UMSL, as the duo combined for 52 of their team's 64 points.

The Knights had another good shooting night, finishing 30-53 for 56.6 percent, including 45 percent from 3-point range.  The Tritons were limited to just 39.1 percent shooting and made just eight of 25 treys for 32 percent.

Bellarmine got big contributions from several reserves tonight.  Forrest Smallwood logged just five minutes but turned in a near perfect performance with eight points, two rebounds and a steal.  He was 3-3 from the field and was 1-1 from the free throw line and did not commit a foul or a turnover. 

Freshman Jacob Jenkins also made the most of his appearance.  He scored eight points on 3-3 shooting and got perhaps the biggest round of applause from the Knights faithful after he nailed a triple with just six seconds remaining to elevate Bellarmine above the 85-point plateau, which earned everyone in attendance a free Chick-fil-A sandwich through their "Drive for 85" promotion. 

Next up for the Knights is a rare Saturday-Monday road trip.  Bellarmine travels to Rennselaer, Ind., to take on the St. Joseph Pumas on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. (ET).  On Monday, they must travel to Indianapolis to take on the Greyhounds at 7:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE