ST. CHARLES, Mo.—Survive and advance is the name of the game in postseason play, and that's exactly what the No. 2 Bellarmine University Knights did in their 83-73 victory over Maryville in their quarterfinal game in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Tournament at Family Arena. 
 
Entering as the top-seed, the Knights (26-2) had all they could handle in the first half against the Saints, who entered play as the 11-seed but jumped to a No. 8 after knocking off Southern Indiana in the opening round.  Today, Maryville again had upset on their mind as they ran out to a 40-33 halftime lead.
 
All-GLVC guard Armon Provo almost single handedly lifted the Saints (12-17) to that advantage.  He scored MU's first eight points and finished the opening 20 minutes with 21 including an impressive 6-for-7 performance from beyond the arc.  As a team, the Saints were seven of 14 from 3-point land.
 
At the intermission, the stat sheet also showed the Knights had not played "Bellarmine basketball," finishing with just one assist and committing 11 turnovers.
 
The Knights managed to turn it around in the second half, getting back to "Bellarmine basketball" with  nine assists and turning the ball over just four times while outscoring the Saints 50-33 in the second half
 
Chris Whitehead was the catalyst for the Knights coming up with six steals in the game and dropping in 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting. 
 
Count Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport among those impressed by Whitehead's performance. "(He) just took the game over in that six or seven minute span," Davenport said.  "It was like just get out of his way.  I drew up something in a timeout that we've never run in my life—which is against my cardinal rule of coaching—and we got a layup out of it.  Second time we ran it, he got Jake a layup."
 
Also coming up big for Bellarmine in the second half was Rusty Troutman, who scored all 16 of his points after intermission.  "Rusty Troutman had just a tremendous second half," said Davenport. "He goes five for seven, but he also had two rebounds, two assists and deflections. "
 
 
As far as the overall play, Davenport attributed the tight contest to the rigors of life in the GLVC. "It's just typical of the best league in the country," he said.  "(Maryville) is playing their best basketball.  They're coming off a great win over UMSL where they were just dominant in the game.   And they beat USI at USI, who is right on the fringe of the NCAA tournament."
 
"Now, I'm really proud of our guys for what they did in the second half," Davenport said. "We had one assist in the first half, and we shoot 45 percent.  We had nine assists in the second half and shoot 59 percent.  That being said, we missed 13 shots and got five offensive rebounds.  We were literally scoring on every possession."
 
Four Knights reached double figures today, with Josh Derksen matching Troutman's 16.  Jake Thelen notched his 15^th double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
 
For the game, Bellarmine finished shooting at a 53.8 percent clip while Maryville finished at 47.4 percent. Another bright spot for the Knights was free throw shooting where they canned 24 of 28 attempts.  The Saints hit just nine of 16 charity tosses.  Rebounding was virtually even with Maryville holding a slim 30-29 edge. 
 
The Knights now advance to the GLVC seminfinals, where they'll meet the University of Indianapolis on Saturday at noon (1 p.m. EST).  The fourth-seeded Greyhounds were 70-61 winners over Lewis in the other GLVC afternoon quarterfinal game.
 
BOX SCORE (HTM)