LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Behind a career high 27 points from Vance Hall, the No. 11 Bellarmine University men's basketball team roared past the Pumas of St. Joseph's 95-77 Saturday afternoon in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at Knights Hall.

Bellarmine (17-4, 9-4 GLVC) also got a career high from freshman Max Clemons, who poured in 15 points after going a perfect 3-3 from the field and canning seven of eight free throws.

After St. Joseph's (6-14, 4-9 GLVC) made their first two 3-point attempts on the day to take an early 6-3 lead, Bellarmine responded with a 12-0 run to seize the lead they would never relinquish.

The Pumas managed to get within four points at the 12-minute mark of the first half, but the Knights finished the half strongly to lead 46-29 at the break. 

In the second half, Bellarmine's lead swelled to 27 on a Chris Dowe layup less than four minutes into the period, and the Knights coasted the rest of the way despite St. Joseph's connecting on seven of 15 treys in the final 20 minutes.

The Knights and the Pumas both turned in outstanding offensive performances with BU scorching the nets with a shooting percentage of 56.9 percent and the Pumas hitting 29 of 57 for 50.9 percent.  Both were hot from the outside as well with St. Joseph's hitting 11 of 23 triples (47.8%), and Bellarmine connecting on eight of 17 from beyond the arc for 47.1 percent.

“We had 18 assists and half of them came from Jake Thelen and Jelani Johnson, so there is your inside- outside basketball,” said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. “All in all, a very impressive game by our guys.”

With all the offensive production, 10 players—five from each team—reached double figures in scoring.  Among that group for the Knights were Thelen (12), Dowe (10), and Keisten Jones (16) to go along with the career performances from Hall and Clemons.  Johnson tallied just two points, but led all players with seven rebounds and seven assists.

 The Pumas were led by Louisville native (Waggener High School) Dayvon Sloan and Damon Ellison, Jr., with 13 points apiece.

In a busy day of GLVC action, the Knights picked up some ground and are now in a 3-way tie for second in the East Division as Southern Indiana fell at home in overtime to division leader Wisconsin-Parkside, who improved to 11-2 in conference play.  Joining the Knights in the tie are USI and Indianapolis with Lewis one game back in fifth. On the West side of the conference, the Drury Panthers are 11-2 to lead the way with Maryville two games back. It's another two games back to third place Missouri-St. Louis with a 7-6 league record.

Bellarmine now faces a crucial and daunting road trip, traveling to Lewis on Thursday and taking on the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday.

NOTES:

• Bellarmine's  turnovers (7) equaled their steals total meaning the Knights erased all seven giveaways with takeaways.
• Jelani Johnson's seven assists tied a career high.
• Bellarmine's 95 points was their highest production of the season.