Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind.-- Southern Indiana's Aaron Nelson grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a put-back basket with 6.6 seconds remaining as the 25^th-ranked Screaming Eagles held off Bellarmine 72-69 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game at USI's Physical Activities Building on Thursday night.
 
The Knights opened up a 13-point first half advantage, then went ice-cold—going without a field goal in the final 5:16 of the first half—as USI fought back to take a 40-39 lead at halftime.  After the break, the Screaming Eagles jumped out to a 54-43 advantage, but the Knights fought back to take the lead on several occasions.  However, in the end, USI's 44-29 rebounding advantage was too much for Bellarmine to overcome.
 
The game concluded both teams' regular seasons with USI finishing 21-5, 13-5, GLVC, and Bellarmine ending up 20-6, 12-6 GLVC.
 
"Coming in, we said there were two keys to the game:  rebounding and ball movement," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  Unfortunately for the Knights, the statistics didn't play out the way the Bellarmine coaching staff would have liked. Bellarmine entered the game ranked sixth in the country in assists per game at 18.8, but handed out just 10 tonight, and they were beaten by 15 on the glass. "We played hard; we just had no answers for the backboard," Davenport said.
 
Bellarmine stormed out of the gates, hitting four of their first five 3-point attempts and building a 15-5 lead just 4:46 into the game.  The Bellarmine cushion grew to 22-9 at the 12:22 mark. After a brief USI rally trimmed the lead to just six, the Knights surged back ahead 36-24 on a Vance Hall triple.
 
The host Screaming Eagles again mounted a comeback as the Knights couldn't find the shooting range they had in the early going.  Bellarmine missed their final six shots of the half and turned the ball over twice in the final 1:18 as USI claimed their first lead of the game with just two seconds remaining in the period after closing on a 16-3 run.
 
The Screaming Eagles continued the run to open the second stanza, and a pair of Orlando Rutledge free throws at the 15:45 mark gave USI a 30-7 advantage over 9:09 of game clock. 
 
Bellarmine responded with a 12-0 spurt to regain the lead at the 11:18 mark.  The two GLVC powers then slugged it out coming down the stretch, with neither team leading by more than two points until Nelson's put back gave USI the 72-69 final margin.  A potential game-tying 3-pointer by BU's Rusty Troutman at buzzer was well off the mark, and USI held on for the victory.
 
The Knights placed four players in double digits, led by Keisten Jones with 21.  Hall added 16 and four assists while Troutman contributed 15 points.  Jake Thelen added 10 points, and George Suggs was the team leader in rebounds with six and added five blocked shots.
 
Nelson led all scorers with 23 and picked up his 21st double-double of the season with 12 rebounds.
 
Bellarmine will be the No. 7 seed in the upcoming GLVC Tournament and will host William Jewell (the 10-seed) in an opening round game at 3 p.m. in Knights Hall.  Tickets for that game will be sold in the Knights Hall lobby on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Cost is $10.  Tickets will also be available on game day, beginning at 2 p.m.
 
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