ST. CHARLES, Mo.—Survive and advance.  Such is the mantra of nearly every college basketball team this time of year. And, that's exactly what the No. 12 Bellarmine Knights did in a 76-73 win over Southern Indiana in today's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship quarterfinal matchup at Family Arena.

Although the Knights led most of the way, the Screaming Eagles inched into the lead 72-71 with just 1:51 remaining. However, George Suggs answered for Bellarmine by knocking down his fifth 3-pointer of the day to stake the Knights to 74-72 advantage.

Alex Stein brought the Screaming Eagles to within one by converting one of two free throws on the USI end with 55 seconds to go. Bellarmine then milked the clock down and Al Davis swished a short pull-up jumper to give the Knights a 3-point lead with just 25 ticks on the clock. 

Stein missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer for USI with seven seconds left, and Adam Eberhard corralled the important rebound for the Knights and was fouled immediately. 

Although Eberhard missed both free throws on the other end, Michael Parrish was able to deflect the USI outlet pass forcing the Screaming Eagles to have to go three-quarters of the length of the court in just 1.7 seconds. A Shane Senior 3-point attempt for USI came up well short, and after the buzzer sounded, as the Knights hung on for the victory.

"Their poise was tremendous," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport of his team.  "And poise comes from leaders, because when they leave the huddle they don't have us, and that's George Suggs, Rusty Troutman and Michael Parrish."

"This is the best league in the country, so when you advance you're just proud of your guys," Davenport added.

Suggs, the GLVC Defensive Player of the Year this season, showed off his offensive skills in today's game, scoring a career-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting including 5-of-6 from three point range.  Troutman added 16 points while Davis and Yasin Kolo contributed 11 apiece.  Parrish dished out seven assists and committed just one turnover while Eberhard and Kolo pulled down six rebounds apiece to lead the Knights. The Screaming Eagles were paced by Bobo Drummund with 18 points.

Today's game shared many similarities to the contest these two teams played last Saturday, which ended in an overtime victory for USI.  In that game, the Knights held a 15-point halftime lead but came out in the second half ice cold as the Screaming Eagles battled back with offensive rebounding to force overtime.

In today's game, Bellarmine blistered the nets for 57.9 percent shooting in the first half, but could not seem to buy a basket early in the second period.  In fact, the Knights went scoreless the first 5:39 of the second half until Rusty Troutman finally drilled a triple from near the left baseline. That ended a 9-0 run by the Screaming Eagles and got the Knights back on track offensively.

Bellarmine went on to build their lead back up to double digits, but USI went on a late 12-0 run to set up the exciting finish.

The Knights shot an even 50 percent from the field for the game after cooling to just 43.5 percent shooting in the second half. The Screaming Eagles had similar numbers, making 54.5 percent in the first half but shot just 39.4 percent after halftime.

Both teams lit it up from beyond the arc with USI finishing 10-21 for 47.6 percent while the Knights made eight of 14 for 57.1 percent.

The Screaming Eagles (19-11) again dominated the glass in the second period, outrebounding the Knights 25-14 to finish the game with a 33-25 advantage.

Bellarmine improves to 23-5 on the season and will advance to play Lewis at 6 p.m. tomorrow in the first semifinal game. The Flyers took a 92-89 overtime victory over Indianapolis in the second quarterfinal game today.

BOX SCORE (HTM)