LEBANON, Ill.—The No. 12 Bellarmine University men's basketball team got their first Great Lakes Valley Conference road win tonight, turning back the host McKendree Bearcats 71-56 at the Statham Sports Center.

For Bellarmine, it was an outstanding team effort with four players scoring in double figures, led by Vance Hall and Keisten Jones with 14 each.  Senior Chris Dowe recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists and drew the praise of Coach Scott Davenport after the game.  “He just found people tonight,” Davenport said. “He takes four shots and just completely dominates the game.”

The Knights (13-2, 5-2 GLVC) got off to a great start, sprinting out to a 14-0 lead over the first six and a half minutes.  The Bearcats closed to within five points as the Knights suffered through a scoring drought of 5:40 seconds. Hall finally got Bellarmine back on track with a trey at the 6:02 mark, and the Knights stretched their lead back to double digits at halftime, 30-20.

The second half started with McKendree's Matt Murphy converting an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by a miss by Bellarmine, which prompted a quick timeout by Davenport.  The ploy was successful as the Knights responded with a 9-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night 39-23 at the 17:37 mark.

Bellarmine, which 58.1 percent in the second half, extended their lead to as many as 23, allowing Davenport to substitute liberally with 15 players seeing action.  Among those players was redshirt junior Stevie Loveless, who made his first appearance for the Knights since Dec. 11, 2010 due to various injuries.

 “By and large this was a great win,” said Davenport.  “We were trying to manage minutes a lot tonight, especially when we got out to a large lead because we're going to get home very late then have to leave again Wednesday.”

Davenport added, “Every team has to evolve, and this was our first road win, so we need to build on that and keep evolving.”

Bellarmine shot 54.5 percent for the game, and won the battle of the boards 29-21 while limiting McKendree to just three offensive rebounds and 38.3 percent shooting. 

The Knights also limited the Bearcats to just six 3-pointers, which was one of Davenport's goals for the team since McKendree was averaging nine triples a game.

McKendree falls to 7-10, 1-6 GLVC. They were paced by Clinton Happe and John Steppe with 21 points apiece. 

The game was the first ever between the schools.  McKendree is in its first season in the GLVC after making the transition from NAIA.

Bellarmine returns to action on Thursday with another road game at St. Joseph's. The men will play the opening game of the doubleheader with the women.  Tip is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST/5:30 p.m. EST.