Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Knights used a smothering first half performance to take down the Bearcats of McKendree University 97-77 tonight in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in Knights Hall on Thursday night.
The win broke a rare three-game losing streak for the Knights, which got big contributions from
Keisten Jones (26 points),
Jake Thelen (16 points, 15 rebounds), and
Michael Parrish (career high six assists). Bellarmine improves to 14-4, 6-4 GLVC while the Bearcats fall to 8-9, 2-7 GLVC.
Bellarmine bolted out to 12-0 lead to open the game and went on to take a 53-30 halftime advantage as they outrebounded the Bearcats 27-11 and outshot their guests 54 percent to 39 percent over the first 20 minutes.
The Knights continued the rout in the second period and ran out to a 69-36 lead less than five minutes into the second period. The Bearcats got a lift from Matt Murphy, who came off the bench to pour in a season high 14 points in just 13 minutes—all in the second half—as the visitors trimmed the final margin to 20.
"You shoot 55 percent, outrebound them by 14 and have 21 assists, that's a good night of basketball, no question about it," said Bellarmine Coach
Scott Davenport. "We were dominant on the backboards and did a great job of changing defenses in the first half, just a solid basketball game."
Bellarmine, who was without the services of
Tanner Gibson due to a concussion suffered during the Lewis game, got 14 points and six rebounds from
Rusty Troutman, who was four of four from three-point range.
Vance Hall contributed 16 points and five boards while doling out four assists.
George Suggs also hit double digits with 12 points for Bellarmine.
The Knights finished shooting 55.1 percent for the game to get their field goal shooting back on track, and posted a 43-29 advantage on the backboards.
McKendree was led by Logan Carson, who tallied 25 points including a perfect seven for seven from the free throw line.
Bellarmine returns to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Illinois-Springfield in a homecoming game scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
BOX SCORE (HTM)
