LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Facing a double digit deficit for the first time this season, the third-ranked Bellarmine University Knights tightened the screws on their defense in the second half and stormed past the No. 6 Indianapolis Greyhounds 73-65 Saturday night in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest in a sold out Knights Hall.

Down 14 midway through the first half, the Knights battled back and faced just a four point deficit at half. In the second period, the Knights held UIndy to just 30 percent shooting with Greyhounds hitting just seven of 23 field goal attempts. Bellarmine backed up the defensive effort with a dominating performance on the glass, outrebounding the Hounds 23-11 in the final 20 minutes.

Senior Jake Thelen posted his 13th double double of the season totaling 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Knights while Josh Sewell came off the bench to pour in 15 points, recording his final two points by capping the game with a breakaway dunk.

"A lot like last week at UMSL, this team played with great courage tonight," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "(UIndy's) been ranked in the top five all year.  They're one of the best teams in the country.  They shoot it so well; they're a tough team to play.  That was a great college basketball game.  You take in the crowd, the effort of the players, that was just a great college game."

The Knights were plagued by poor shooting in the opening 10 minutes, missing multiple open shots from close range. The Greyhounds took advantage by canning four of their first six triples and jumped out to a 23-9 lead 9:48 into the game.

"It's great execution playing a team as good as Indianapolis to get a layup," said Davenport.  "And you give them (UIndy) credit.  They have length; they have strength; they're one of the best defensive teams in the country, so you have to give them a lot of credit."

Bellarmine got a lift from Sewell, who scored nine of his 15 points in the last 10 minutes of the first half.  The Knights completed the comeback and gained their first lead of the game at the 2:55 mark when Thelen hit a free throw to complete a 3-point play to put Bellarmine ahead 31-30.

The Greyhounds responded and took a 39-35 lead into the locker room as Jordan Loyd hit a triple with 30 seconds remaining.

Coming out of the break, Bellarmine strung together a 7-2 run to claim the lead 42-41 on a Josh Derksen trey.  The Greyhounds nailed back to back 3-pointers to go back up by five, but the Knights put together a 14-1 run to take control of the game.

Bellarmine extended the lead to 11 with 3:29 remaining, but the Greyhounds made one last push to cut the Knights' cushion to just four at the 2:10 mark.  After a Bellarmine miss, the Knights got the offensive rebound and George Suggs drained a huge trifecta as the shot clock expired with just over a minute remaining.

The Greyounds, who made more three-pointers than two-pointers in the second period, connected again from long range to pull back within four at 69-65.  Two Rusty Troutman free throws gave the Knights some breathing room, and Sewell finished the scoring with a two-handed dunk.

Bellarmine improves to 24-2 on the season with those 24 wins tying a school record for most wins in the regular season.  The Knights GLVC mark improves to 16-1 while the Greyhounds slip to 21-4, 13-4 GLVC after dropping its second straight game.

Joining Thelen and Sewell in double figures for the Knights were Suggs with 11 and Chris Whitehead with 10—all in the second half.  Jordan Loyd of the Greyhounds led all scorers with 22 points, with more than half coming at the charity stripe where he was 12 of 14.

The Knights ended the game with a 43-27 rebounding advantage while outshooting the Hounds 47 percent to 36 percent. 

Bellarmine will conclude its regular season by hosting the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles on Thursday at 8 p.m.  The game will feature two of the hottest teams in the league with USI currently on a 7-game win streak and the Knights claiming their 12th straight tonight. 

BOX SCORE