SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — When the final horn sounded Saturday at the Recreation and Athletic Center, there was plenty to celebrate for the 11th-ranked Bellarmine University men's basketball team after a commanding 78-50 victory over Illinois Springfield.

Turns out there was even more reason to be excited.

With the victory by Bellarmine and a loss by Wisconsin-Parkside to Indianapolis, the Knights clinched at least a share of the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division championship. It's the second-straight division title for BU (22-4, 15-2) and fourth in the last six years.

Bellarmine also clinched the top seed in the GLVC Tournament. Even if the Knights lose their GLVC finale on Thursday at Southern Indiana, they can do no worse than a tie with Wisconsin-Parkside (14-3 GLVC) for first in the GLVC East, and they've already sealed the necessary tiebreaker — the superior record against divisional foes as BU is 8-1 and the Rangers are 6-3. Drury is leading the West at 13-4 in conference play.

"They deserve a great trip home, not a good trip," BU Coach Scott Davenport said of the Knights, who also notched a 30-point road win over McKendree on Thursday. "I was thrilled with our guys. It was a great road trip."

Freshman forward Adam Eberhard scored a career-high 17 points for Bellarmine, which has won four straight and eight of nine. Junior guard Rusty Troutman added 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, while junior guard Al Davis notched his first double-double with the Knights following 12 points and 10 rebounds. Davis was only three assists shy of a triple-double after dishing out a game-high seven. Senior forward George Suggs and junior forward Josh Derksen chipped in nine points apiece.

Perhaps most astonishing about Saturday's game is that Bellarmine shot a season-low 39.3 percent and still managed to post a 28-point victory over Illinois Springfield (11-16, 5-12). That can largely be attributed to a shrewd effort on defense in which the Knights held the Prairie Stars to 37.3 percent shooting, including 21.4 percent (3 of 14) from 3-point range.

"We blew every defensive statistic away," Davenport said of his squad's goals for the game in that area. "That was a great defensive effort."

While Bellarmine had an off-night from the floor, the Knights certainly did not from the free-throw line. BU shot a cold-blooded 88.5 percent (23 of 26), its second-best output of the season when attempting at least 20 shots from the charity stripe. Eberhard sank all seven of his chances, and Davis drained all six of his opportunities.

Rebounding was also critical. The Knights held a 45-29 advantage on the boards and hauled in 14 offensive rebounds, one off a season high. They held a 14-4 advantage in second-chance points and, behind Eberhard and Derksen, a 33-8 superiority in bench scoring.

With 3:54 left in the first half, Bellarmine actually trailed 23-21, but the Knights stormed into the locker room with a double-digit lead after reeling off a 12-0 run capped by a traditional three-point play from Troutman. That run was extended to 19-0 as Davis scored four points and Troutman drilled a 3-pointer to open the second half.

A 3-pointer by Suggs boosted Bellarmine's lead to 20 with 14:14 left, and senior guard Michael Parrish stuck a putback for a 28-point bulge with a little over nine minutes left. The lead never dipped below 20 thereafter.

"We started locking in on 'D' and playing for each other," Davis said. "Once we did that, we started playing well."

JJ Cravatta had 20 points for UIS and Jamall Millison added 10.

Bellarmine will look to win an outright GLVC East title on Thursday at Southern Indiana.

Said Davenport: "We have control over our destiny."

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