LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was a performance that would have left Braydon Hobbs beaming with pride.

On Saturday at Knights Hall, the No. 4 Bellarmine University men's basketball team set a new program record by sinking 18 3-pointers, and the Knights clinched the top seed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament with a 92-55 demolishing of Illinois Springfield.

Senior guard Rusty Troutman posted 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for Bellarmine (24-3, 16-1 GLVC), which has won 11 straight contests and locked down at least a share of a third consecutive GLVC East title. Southern Indiana (15-2 GLVC), the Knights' opponent Thursday in the teams' regular-season finale, is one game back of Bellarmine in the GLVC East, but the Knights have already secured the necessary tiebreaker — a superior record against divisional opponents.

"It's just a credit to all these guys — 1-14," Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said.

Junior guard Tyler Jenkins followed Troutman with 17 points against UIS (8-18, 3-14), junior guard Brent Bach chipped in 14 points and sophomore forward Adam Eberhard collected 11 points and a game-best nine assists as Bellarmine shot 56.7 percent and held the Prairie Stars to 36 percent. Paxton Harmon had 18 points for Illinois Springfield.

Before the game, Hobbs had his jersey retired. The former All-American and 2012 National Player of the Year, who helped guide Bellarmine to the 2011 NCAA Tournament title, is playing professionally overseas but spoke to the crowd via a video.

There's no doubt Hobbs, who is the program's all-time leader in 3-pointers made, would have appreciated what unfolded next. The Knights stroked 11 3-pointers in the first half alone in building a devastating 45-17 lead. Bellarmine didn't exactly cool off in the second half. The Knights buried seven more trifectas after the intermission.

On six occasions and most recently in November of 2013 against King, a Bellarmine squad had knocked down 15 3-pointers in a game. The Knights surpassed that total at the 7:49 mark of the second half when Jenkins drained a deep trey from the top of the key. Freshman forward Ben Weyer and sophomore forward Skyler Hunter each followed with a triple before all was said and done.

Jenkins nailed 5 of 7 from 3-point land, Bach canned 4 of 5, Hunter was 3 for 3, Eberhard netted 3 of 5 and Troutman sank 2 of 3. The Knights finished 18 of 33 from behind the arc for a 54.5 percent clip. The most memorable may have come at the end of the first half when Hunter caught a baseball pass from Eberhard near midcourt, charged ahead a few steps and drilled a 3 just ahead of the buzzer.

The 3-pointers were the main story on Homecoming Saturday for Bellarmine, but the Knights were sound in all areas. They turned the ball over only eight times, with a decisive 24-5 advantage in points off turnovers. They had a 33-28 rebounding edge, five blocks and 26 assists on 34 made baskets. Bellarmine also had a 42-13 superiority in bench production.

"We make 18 3s — that's incredible — but what I love is that we had assists on all but one of them," Davenport said. "What was also incredible was our first-half defense (when UIS was 7 of 22 from the field)."

Bellarmine will host Southern Indiana at 8 p.m. (ET) Thursday. The Knights will seek to win an outright GLVC East title.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights), Facebook (BUKnights) and the BUKnights mobile app available for iPhone and Android.

BOX SCORE (HTM)