Box Score LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine University men's basketball team posted a wire-to-wire 76-72 victory over Maryville on Saturday afternoon in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in the final regular season contest at Knights Hall. 

The Knights (18-5, 10-5 GLVC) jumped out to 6-0 lead and quickly extended that into a double digit advantage for most of the first half, going into halftime with a 36-21 cushion.  After the break, Bellarmine pushed the lead to 20 at 51-31 on a Rusty Troutman triple with 14:49 remaining. 

However, the gritty Maryville club never quit fighting, and the Saints' Asa Toney took the game over—scoring 23 of his game-high 26 points in the second half—as the Knights' advantage dwindled to just two at 66-64 with 2:56 on the clock.

Bellarmine's Vance Hall and Jake Thelen turned in clutch performances in the late going to help the Knights hang on for the win.  First, Hall converted both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2:22 left in the game.   Then the senior guard swished a pull-up, 17-foot jumper to put the Knights on top 70-64 with 35 seconds remaining.

Maryville (11-11, 5-9 GLVC) answered with a quick layup then fouled Thelen with 19 seconds showing on the clock. The junior forward hit both ends of the bonus to stake Bellarmine to a 72-66 lead.  A Saints turnover gave the ball back to the Knights, and Hall converted two more free throws with seven ticks left on the clock. 

Maryville then got an old-fashioned 3-point play from Toney, and the Knights turned it over on a 5-second call.  Myles Jerrett then drained a 3 with just one second left to pull the Saints back to within one 74-72.

Thelen closed out the game's scoring by sinking two more free throws to make the final 76-72.

"Maryville's been in 11 games decided in the last minute, so we knew this was coming," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "And when you look at how well we defended the three point shot, we just couldn't control Asa Toney in the second half; he's one of the best players we've seen."

Bellarmine put up solid numbers statistically.  The Knights made 51 percent of their field goals, racked up 18 assists and limited their turnovers to 10. 

Individually, Thelen posted team highs in both points and rebounds with 20 and five.  Hall followed up his 10-assist game on Thursday with seven assists tonight to go along with 14 points.  George Suggs, who played sparingly in the first half due to foul trouble, finished with 11 points, and Keisten Jones hit double digits with 10. 

With this being the final regular season home game for the Bellarmine, a brief pre-game ceremony was held to honor Hall, Jones and Stevie Loveless as 2014's graduating class.

Bellarmine now hits the road for their final three regular season games.  On Thursday, they travel to Rensselaer, Ind., to take on St. Joseph's before visiting the University of Indianapolis on Saturday.  Bellarmine will close their regular season with a trip to Evansville to face Southern Indiana on Feb. 27.

BOX SCORE (HTM)