EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Senior forwards Alex Cook and Ben Weyer both joined the Bellarmine University men's basketball team's 1,000-point club on Saturday night.

Perhaps even sweeter for the star veteran duo: They tasted victory in the final regular-season road game of their respective careers at archrival Southern Indiana.

With less than eight minutes remaining, top-ranked Bellarmine held a three-point lead, but the Knights methodically pulled away from No. 20 USI in securing a 79-65 victory at Screaming Eagles Arena in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

"I could sit here and break down stats, but this game wasn't about stats," Knights Coach Scott Davenport said. "It was an old-fashioned gut check."

Bellarmine (12-0, 5-0 GLVC) avenged a loss to Southern Indiana (9-4, 1-4) in last year's Sweet 16, doing it on a night in which Cook and Weyer became the 40th and 41st players in program history to record 1,000 career points. Cook needed 14 to reach the milestone and finished with a game-high 19 points along with a game-best 10 rebounds. Weyer needed eight points to enter the four-digit club and tallied nine along with eight boards.

"Ben and Alex had to fight for everything they got tonight," Davenport said.

Junior guard CJ Fleming scored 15 points, sophomore guard Dylan Penn collected 12 and senior guard Parker Chitty added nine off the bench while making a significant impact down the stretch. Sophomore guard Pedro Bradshaw pulled down seven rebounds as the Knights had a 37-29 advantage on the boards, including ripping down 13 offensive rebounds.

Bellarmine led 40-32 at halftime — most impressive was the Knights built the advantage late despite Cook and Weyer saddled with foul trouble — but Southern Indiana didn't crumble and eventually tied the game at 55 midway through the second half. Bradshaw immediately followed by converting off a feed from Penn, which triggered a critical 9-2 run for a 66-57 lead with six minutes left.

Bellarmine's lead never dipped below seven thereafter. Chitty bumped it to 10 by burying a contested baseline 3-pointer while falling down. He also drained six free throws in the waning minutes, hitting them around a nifty driving layup by Cook when USI was pressing. The Knights outscored the Screaming Eagles 19-8 over the final 7:49.

"Not a lot went smooth. You had to get everything," Davenport said.

Bellarmine shot below its season average after making 45.3 percent of its attempts, but the Knights had a 46-26 superiority in points in the paint and also canned 15-of-16 free throw chances. USI shot 45.5 percent but just 18.2 percent (4 of 22) from 3-point range as the Knights remained undefeated in the electric environment that included a strong contingent of Bellarmine faithful.

"For the people that followed us over here, thank you to each and every one," Davenport said. "We're going to enjoy this tonight."

Bellarmine will host Missouri-St. Louis at 8 p.m. (ET) Thursday. The Tritons are 14-1 overall and 5-0 in the GLVC.

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