Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The Bellarmine University men's basketball team picked off another higher seeded team in the Deaconess Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship as the Knights rolled to 90-78 victory over 19^th-ranked Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday night at the Ford Center. 

A night after dispatching third-seeded Indianapolis Greyhounds, Bellarmine handed the second-seeded Rangers their walking papers behind huge nights from Jake Thelen and Vance Hall. Thelen poured in a career-high 27 points while pulling down 11 rebounds while Hall also posted a double-double with 23 points and 10 boards.

"The players deserve so much of the credit," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "They really feed each other, and the sum of the parts makes us pretty strong."

Bellarmine established an early lead as they took advantage of early free throw woes by the Rangers, who hit just one of six charity tosses in the opening three and a half minutes. Wisconsin-Parkside rallied, however, and used a 12-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 19-15, at the 9:38 mark of the first half. The Knights answered with an 11-3 spurt to retake the lead and eventually pulled ahead by 10 before setting for a 41-36 halftime lead.

After the break, Parkside trimmed the margin to two, but the Knights refused to relinquish the lead. Bellarmine surged ahead by 12 at the 12:19 mark only to see half of that cushion evaporate on a rare six-point possession by the Rangers.  As UWP's Jordan Mach's trey was in the air, Bellarmine's George Suggs was whistled for a foul underneath. Mach's triple swished through the nets, so the basket was allowed and the Rangers were awarded possession.  This time, Jimmy Gavin nailed a deep-ball for the Rangers and the seemingly comfortable 12-point margin had been whittled down to a concerning six at 62-56.

The Knights were able to maintain their composure and quickly re-established a double digit advantage.  Bellarmine led by as many as 17 at the 3:20 mark before cruising home for the 12-point victory.

Although, Bellarmine's outside shots weren't falling with the frequency of their recent performances, the Knights hit 29 of 44 attempts inside the arc for 66 percent while making 33 of 55 field goals overall (60 percent).  The Rangers made 45.3 percent of their shots and were just eight of 24 from beyond the arc.

The Knights also outhustled Parkside on the backboards, raking in 41 rebounds—12 more than the Rangers.

In addition to the stellar performances turned in by Thelen and Hall, BU got double digit performances from Keisten Jones with 15 and Josh Derksen with 13.  For Parkside, center "Ziggy" Riauka led the way with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Both teams move to 23-6 on the season. 

The Knights now advance to face the 5^th seeded Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles in the championship game on Sunday.  Tip is slated for 4:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. CDT.  For Bellarmine, it will be their third ranked opponent in three days as USI comes in No. 20 in the NABC Coaches Poll. 

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