LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The No. 3 Bellarmine University Knights used several big runs to roll past the visiting St. Joseph's Pumas 95-71 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest on Thursday night in Knights Hall.
 
The win, Bellarmine's 11 th in a row, lifted the Knights to 23-2 overall and 15-1 in league play. 
 
Bellarmine was not impressive out of the gate, and the Pumas led 17-15 with 12:21 in the first half when the Knights exploded for a 23-2 run and went on to take a 51-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
After the break, the Pumas came out on fire, hitting three straight three-pointers to cut the Bellarmine lead in the half.  After Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport made wholesale substitutions, the Knights responded and eventually built a 27 point lead before settling for the 24-point win.  
 
"I thought this was a great game," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "Other than the first 10 minutes…we got a little loose with the ball, but the second 10 minutes of the first half, I thought we were absolutely tremendous.  Then the first part of the second half we just kind of went down on our defense a little bit…the great thing as a teacher is, is that they responded."
 
As has been the "M.O." in many Bellarmine games this season, the Knights shot lights out while holding the opposition to sub-40 percent shooting.  Bellarmine finished making 64.2 percent from the field, and the Pumas made just 36.2 percent of their field goals.
 
And has been the trend in recent weeks, Chris Whitehead was phenomenal. The two-time defending GLVC Player of the Week lit up the scoreboard with 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting and making both free throws. 
 
Several Knights had big games, including senior Jake Thelen, who recorded his 12 th double double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds in just 25 minutes of action.  Sophomores Josh Derksen and Rusty Troutman also were outstanding with 17 and 13 points respectively, and senior Josh Sewell added 11.
 
Fifteen different Knights saw action with 10 players hitting the scoring column and 10 tallying at least one assist.  Bellarmine finished the night with 20 assists on 34 made baskets.
 
"I'm just thrilled with the way we're playing," Davenport said, alluding to the upcoming postseason run. "I know it's cliché, but you've got to win every possession and every segment and every half and every game as they come.  Our goal every night is to do our job and then we'll see what happens."
 
The Knights next game will be a top 10 showdown with Indianapolis on Saturday at 8 p.m.  The homecoming game will give the Knights a chance to avenge its only conference loss of the season—a 66-62 setback in Indianapolis on Jan. 15 .
 
On Saturday, the No. 6 Greyhounds will be looking to make a statement after falling 69-67 to the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles on Thursday.  Indianapolis enters the Bellarmine contest 21-3 overall and 13-3 in league play.
 
BOX SCORE (HTM)