Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky.—After suffering their first defeat of the year two nights ago, the No. 2 Bellarmine University men's basketball team bounced back in a big way by racing out to an 18-0 lead and pounding the visiting St. Joseph's College Pumas 103-60 this afternoon in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in Knights Hall. 
 
"I don't know if this is what the doctor ordered, but it's what Coach Davenport ordered," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport about his team's bounce back performance. "Most importantly, though, this performance came from within the locker room, not me."
 
To illustrate his point, Davenport gave Rusty Troutman's hustle as an example.  "In a 40 plus point game, for Rusty Troutman to lay out completely horizontal on a loose ball back tap after a turnover, that's contagious to your basketball team," he said.
 
Five different Knights scored in double figures, led by Jake Thelen with 20 and Vance Hall and Troutman with 16 apiece. Meanwhile, the Knights' defense bottled up GLVC leading scorer Cameron Vines, holding him to his lowest point production of the season with 14, seven of which came with less than five minutes remaining in the game.
 
The outcome was never in doubt for the Knights as just one minute and 47 seconds into the contest, Bellarmine owned a 10-point lead.  The Pumas never cut the deficit into single digits with Bellarmine jumping out to a 20-2 lead at the 15:41 mark. 
 
After cruising into the locker room with a 54-31 halftime cushion, the Knights didn't let up in the second period.  In fact, Davenport was displeased with their opening defensive effort and substituted out all five players.  The Knights responded by increasing the lead from 19 at the 17:17 mark of the second half to 33 over the next four minutes. 
 
With the Bellarmine bench providing 35 of their 49 second half points, the Knights' lead swelled to as many as 47 before settling for the 43-point victory margin.
 
All 15 players who were suited up for the Knights saw at least two minutes of action, and five players set new career highs.  Troutman and Christian Meyer set new career bests in rebounding with nine and three respectively.  Setting new highs in points were Josh Derksen with 16 and Donnie Hale, who had his first double digit game, with 10, and Michael Parrish dished out a career high five assists. 
 
As the score would indicate, Bellarmine won all of the statistical battles, outshooting the Pumas 56.5 percent to 32.4 percent, winning the battle of the boards 45-36, and handing out 10 more assists than the visitors (21-11). The Knights also registered a plus-eight turnover margin forcing St. Joseph's into 17 turnovers while committing only nine.
 
Bellarmine improves to 13-1 on the season and 5-1 in the GLVC play while St. Joseph's falls to 4-12, 1-5.
 
The Knights get very little time to celebrate the victory as Bellarmine welcomes No. 10 Southern Indiana into Knights Hall on Monday night for another classic GLVC East battle at 8 p.m.  The Screaming Eagles, who defeated Indianapolis 73-64 today, will come in with an identical 13-1, 5-1 record.  

BOX SCORE (HTM)