EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Facing arguably their biggest challenge of the year, the Bellarmine Knights turned in a remarkable team performance to defeat the No. 10 Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles 78-70 on their home floor in a Great Lakes Valley Conference battle on Monday night in the Physical Activities Center.
 
It was the first loss of the season for USI, which fell to 16-1, 6-1 GLVC. Conversely, the win was a great bounce back for the Knights, whose last outing was a disappointing loss at Truman State.
 
In Monday's game, No. 9/11 Bellarmine (14-3, 6-1 GLVC) simply came out with intensity and played a full 40 minutes, never trailing in the contest.
 
The Knights did it on both ends of the floor.
 
On offense, they connected on 52.9 percent of their shots, including hitting seven of 14 from 3-point land. They also drained 17 of their 18 charity tosses for 94.4 percent.
 
On defense, the Knights held the fifth-highest scoring team in the nation to 26.8 points below their season average and limited them to 42.6 percent shooting, well below their season average of 52.1 percent.
 
"I'm very proud of our players," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "This was a program win against a team that is playing as well as anyone in the country and has been from start to finish."
 
Davenport, who picked up his 150th GLVC victory tonight, added, "Our players played with great poise against, again, one of the finest teams in the country. This is a type of win where you can't single out any individuals, because it was everybody."
 
Team building was the top accomplishment for the Knights tonight according to Davenport. "One of the greatest rewards for a coach is when you see seniors helping freshmen and seniors bonding with juniors," he said. "We try to develop that, but when you see it, it's rewarding. Going forward our goal is to build on the team aspect."
 
Playing in front of a sellout crowd of 2,600 fans, Bellarmine drew first blood on a Tyler Jenkins layup 55 seconds into the game.  After USI answered to tie the game at two apiece, the Knights scored six straight points and never surrendered the lead.
 
Southern Indiana closed to within three on a Bobo Drummond trifecta at the 12:50 mark, but the Knights answered with a 7-0 spurt to extend the lead to 10. Again, the Screaming Eagles closed to within three and again Bellarmine responded and re-established a 10-point cushion before heading into halftime with a 37-28 advantage.
 
After the break, the Knights stumbled a bit coming out of the gate, and USI took advantage, drawing to within a bucket at 39-37 with 15:53 remaining. Jenkins finally got a shot to go down for the Knights in the second half when he drilled a triple on the ensuing possession. Bellarmine then got a stop and Alex Cook connected from beyond the arc to provide the Knights with a quick 6-0 run to extend the lead to eight.
 
Bellarmine's lead hovered between four and eight for the next several minutes before the Knights exploded for a 9-0 run capped by a Rusty Troutman pull-up triple at the seven-minute mark that gave the Knights a 62-49 lead.
 
Coming down the stretch, Southern Indiana made one last push and trimmed the margin to just four with 53 seconds remaining, but Bellarmine scored the final four points of the game to earn the victory.
 
The final box score proves Davenport's assertion that it was a team win.  Four different Knights scored in double figures led by Troutman with 15 while Al Davis, Adam Eberhard and Jenkins all added 13. Davis and Eberhard each corralled eight rebounds to tie for game-high honors with Eberhard adding five assists to lead the Knights.
 
On the other side, Southern Indiana also had a balanced attack with four in double figures, paced by Jeril Taylor's 17 points.
 
Bellarmine's stretch of tough GLVC games continues on Thursday, when the Knights welcome Lewis for an 8 p.m. contest. The Flyers are in a three-way tie with Bellarmine and USI for second place in the GLVC East and are 11-6 overall.
 
On Saturday, Bellarmine hosts the GLVC leaders when Wisconsin-Parkside visits for a 3:15 p.m. game. The Rangers opened the season with a loss to Northern Michigan on Nov. 12, but has since reeled off 15 straight victories and owns a 7-0 league mark.
 
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BOX SCORE (HTM)