Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- The Bellarmine University men's basketball team shook off a sluggish first half to roll past the visiting Missouri-St. Louis  72-59 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game Thursday night in Knights Hall.   
 
After making just eight of 25 first half field goals (33.3%), the Knights scorched the nets with 73.4% second half shooting (17-23) to dispatch the Tritons.  Jake Thelen poured in 19 points to lead the Knights while Vance Hall collected 10 assists in setting the table for the Bellarmine offense.  
 
"The key to this game tonight," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport, "was that we got a little bit of lead, and they made a little run at us and we just executed flawlessly on both ends of the floor.  So this was a great, great victory against a team that beat us last year."
 
Although the game finished well for the Knights, the opening was rocky for Bellarmine.  Missouri-St. Louis jumped out to quick 9-2 lead as the Knights struggled with turnovers and their shooting touch in the early going. 
 
Bellarmine responded with a 9-2 run of their own to tie it at 11, and the two GLVC teams played toe to toe the remainder of the half with neither leading by more than four the rest of the period. The Knights had the last possession of the first half, but had to settle for a forced jumper by Keisten Jones that didn't find its mark, and the Tritons held a slim 25-24 halftime lead.
 
After the break, Bellarmine established a lead in the early going and extended that advantage to 12 by the midpoint of the second period. 
 
"Our defense in the second half was tremendous," said Davenport. "Our defense created our offense. It got us in transition, and I think our 17 baskets came off 14 assists, and that's just great ball movement."
 
The Knights also cleaned up their turnovers in the second frame, committing just three to finish with 12 for the game.  In so doing, Bellarmine turned around a negative statistic in the first half to finish with a turnover to assist ratio of 20 to 12.  
 
Bellarmine also outbattled the Tritons on the boards, outrebounding the visitors 34-29. Despite the inconsistent shooting, the Knights eventually pulled their shooting up to 53.2 percent for the game, which actually improves on their season average of 52.6, which ranks third in the nation. Meanwhile, the  BU defense held UMSL to just 37.9 percent shooting for the game, including just 25 percent from 3-point range.
 
The Tritons' Tylor Wimbish led all scorers with 21, and he tied with Bellarmine's George Suggs for game-high rebounding honors with seven. 
 
Knights fans were pleased to see the return of Donnie Hale and Tanner Gibson to the lineup.  The Bellarmine sophomores had missed the past several games due to different injuries, but both were effective in limited minutes tonight.    
 
Bellarmine improves to 17-5, 9-5 GLVC while UMSL falls to 13-10, 7-7 GLVC.
 
On Saturday, Bellarmine will host Maryville University in the last home game in the 2013-14 regular season.  Prior the game, which is scheduled to tip at 3:15 p.m., senior day ceremonies will be held to bid goodbye to Keisten Jones, Vance Hall and Stevie Loveless. 
 
BOX SCORE