Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Ill.-The No. 6 Bellarmine University Knights hit a sizzling 66 percent from the floor with Jake Thelen and Chris Whitehead combining to go 19-for-21 as Bellarmine romped to an 80-60 road victory over Illinois Springfield tonight in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game.

Thelen finished a perfect 10-of-10 from the field and scored 22 points, and Whitehead was 9-of-11 and scored 21 points to go with seven assists to lead the Knights. Jamall Millison had a hot hand from the outside hitting five of his nine 3-point attempts to lead the Prairie Stars with 22 points.

The Knights got off to a solid start, but couldn't shake the Prairie Stars until Bellarmine went on a 9-0 run over the last 4:20 of the opening period to take a 40-26 halftime lead.

Illinois Springfield opened the second half with a 5-0 run of their own to slice the BU lead into single digits. The Knights answered by scoring the game's next five points to re-establish their 14-point bulge, and the Prairie Stars never made a serious threat to get back in the game. Bellarmine would go on to lead by as many as 23 before settling for the 20-point win.

"I'm really proud of the guys," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "You look at the stat sheet and we shoot 66 percent; we have 21 assists and 11 turnovers; they only get five offensive rebounds, and we hold them to 42 percent (shooting), but the great thing is this team's not satisfied. There's a right way to play this game and a wrong way, and there are some things we really need to clean up before Saturday."

As team, the Knights made 18 of 29 field goals including going 7-of-16 from 3-point range. The Prairie Stars hit their share of big-time baskets, making eight of 18 treys. However, the Bellarmine defense stiffened to limit UIS to just 39 percent shooting after the intermission.

In addition to the big performances by Thelen and Whitehead, George Suggs continued his hot shooting, making three of his six triples and finished with 11 points. Coach Davenport also lauded Corbin Maynard in his postgame comments for his high energy off the bench. The DeSales graduate played just 14 minutes but came up with six points, three rebounds, four assists and four steals in that short amount of time.

Bellarmine improved to 17-2 overall and 9-1 in league play, which is tied for first in the GLVC East after Wisconsin-Parkside knocked off Indianapolis on Thursday night. Now all three GLVC powers have identical 9-1 league marks.

The Knights now travel to Lebanon, Ill., to face the McKendree Bearcats, who knocked off Southern Indiana on Thursday by the score of 88-82.

BOX SCORE (HTM)