EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—The No. 4 Bellarmine Knights stormed out of the gates and never trailed in racing past the Indianapolis Greyhounds 83-65 on Saturday night in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship semifinals at the Vadalabene Center on the campus of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Bellarmine jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, and Indianapolis Coach Stan Gouard called a quick timeout to settle his troops.  Although the Hounds hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and eventually trimmed the lead to just one at 9-8, the Knights responded with a 15-2 run. That three-minute and 40 second spurt was punctuated by Ben Weyer hitting back-to-back threes that gave BU a 24-10 lead.

With Bellarmine starters Adam Eberhard and Jarek Coles battling foul trouble, UIndy made a bit of a charge, closing the final 2:09 of the first half with 7-2 run to trim the Bellarmine margin to 41-35 at the half.

After the break, the Greyhounds kept the comeback going drawing within 44-42 at the 17:59 mark.  The Knights were able to hold them at bay over the next few minutes, then unleashed another run that stretched a 55-51 lead into a 15-point cushion with 7:43 remaining.

The Hounds never got the margin back into single digits, and the Knights led by as many as 20 in the final minute.

"Other than the rebounding in the first half, that was a wonderful performance," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport.  "They got eight more shots than we did in the first half and that negates our shooting percentage, but it was an incredible performance."

Bellarrmine, which is the No. 1 seed in the tournament, got several outstanding individual performances as well. Alex Cook turned in a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Brent Bach led all scorers with 22 points. Weyer added 17 points, and Eberhard scored 17 points, grabbed eight boards and dished out a team-high six assists.

As a team, the Knights shot 53.6 percent and totaled 18 assists in the game.  On defense, Bellarmine limited UIndy to just 35.9 percent shooting as the Greyhounds connected on just six of their 29 3-point attempts.

Indianapolis, the No. 4 seed, got a solid effort from Ajay Lawton with 13 points and seven assists. The Greyhounds slip to 19-9 overall now must await their NCAA tournament fate as Ohio Dominican, who was unranked in the region, won the Great Midwest Tournament today and will receive an automatic bid.

Bellarmine, meanwhile, improves to 27-2 and advances to Sunday's GLVC Championship game against the second-seeded Truman Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. CST).

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