LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There seems to be something about Illinois Springfield that brings out the best in the Bellarmine University men's basketball team's perimeter shooting in Knights Hall.
A year after sinking a program-record 18 3-pointers against the Prairie Stars, Bellarmine drilled a season-high 14 triples Saturday as the Knights extended their nation's-best winning streak at home to 56 in a 79-54 romp in Knights Hall in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
Another impressive streak was prolonged for Bellarmine (20-2, 11-2 GLVC), which sealed its 10th consecutive 20-win season. Junior forward
Chivarsky Corbett scored a career-high 19 points behind a career-best five 3-pointers against UIS (13-9, 5-7). Senior guard
Brent Bach added 14 points and sophomore forward
Alex Cook chipped in 11.
In two lopsided victories this week — the other Thursday against Quincy — Bellarmine allowed only 54 points in each game. The Knights held the Prairie Stars to 38.5 percent shooting and built an insurmountable 48-22 lead at halftime.
"You can talk about all the analytics you want, but there's a bottom line: When you're talking about defense, what's most objective in breaking it down is the scoreboard," Bellarmine Coach
Scott Davenport said. "This was team defense tonight. We definitely used our length."
For all intents and purposes, Bellarmine put the game away in the first half. The Knights were red hot from 3-point range — particularly in the case of Corbett — and buried nine of their 16 shots from deep (56.3 percent). Bellarmine also shrewdly took care of the ball, committing only two turnovers before halftime and just seven for the game, its second-lowest total of the season.
"We played very clean," Davenport said.
One of Bach's trio of 3-pointers gave Bellarmine a 23-11 advantage with 11:45 left in the opening half, and the Knights led by double digits the rest of the way. A Cook steal and feed to Bach pushed the lead to 21, and junior forward
Adam Eberhard hit Bach on the fast break for what resulted in a traditional three-point play and 26-point advantage at the intermission.
There wasn't much work left to be done in the second half. Still, Bellarmine pushed its lead to 30 on Bach's final 3-pointer and topped out at 34 on junior guard
Daniel Ramser's basket.
Bellarmine amassed 16 assists on 17 buckets in the first half. The Knights finished with 23 assists on 29 field goals. Senior guard
Jarek Coles tallied six assists, Cook had four and Eberhard and sophomore guard
Parker Chitty added three apiece. Corbett blocked three shots.
Bellarmine shot 51.8 percent overall and 48.3 percent from 3-point land in winning its third straight game. Vince Walker paced UIS with 14 points.
The Knights begin the first of four consecutive road contests Thursday at McKendree.
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)
HIGHLIGHTS:
