The Knights make the trip up I-65 on Thursday to face the Greyhounds (11-6, 5-4 GLVC) in game scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m.
Bellarmine enters play this week with a new scoring leader. Senior Brent Bach continues his strong play, and his scoring average is up to 15.3, which overtakes Adam Eberhard’s 15.1 average. Eberhard, meanwhile, continues to pace the Knights in both rebounding and assists (6.5 rpg, 4.3 apg).
Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport adjusted his starting lineup prior to last Monday’s victory over Southern Indiana, and he has hit on a winning combination. The Knights won three games last week by an average of 23.66 points, and the competition was fairly stiff with two of the three opponents ranking first and third in the GLVC at the time of the games.
Chivarsky Corbett, a junior transfer from the University of Delaware, responded to his new starting role by averaging 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds in last week’s game. Meanwhile, sophomore Alex Cook also was inserted in the starting lineup, and he averaged 12 per game last week, including a career-high 16 points in his last outing.
On Thursday, the Knights face an Indianapolis team that has something of an up-and-down season so far. The Hounds have notched impressive wins (on the road at Ashland, and at home over Drury) but are just 6-4 at Nicosan Hall this year having dropped close home decisions to then No. 9 Barry, Southern Indiana, Northwood and Lewis.
Four different players average double digits for Indianapolis, led by 6-6 sophomore Tate Hall, who puts up 15.1 points per game and is UIndy’s leading rebounder at 4.1 per game. Senior guard Ajay Lawton is coming off a 20-point five-assist effort against Drury, and he averages 14.9 points and is the Hounds’ leading assist man with 4.9 per contest.
On Saturday, the Knights head to St. Louis for a 4 p.m. (3 p.m. CST) game with the Tritons (8-9, 3-5 GLVC).
Similar to UIndy, Missouri-St. Louis has a pair of quality wins (Truman State, William Jewell) along with some close calls, including a one-point loss to Maryville last Thursday.
Saturday’s game looks to be a low-scoring affair. The Knights come in as the GLVC’s top team for scoring defense, allowing just 61 points a game, while the Tritons are thrid in the league giving up just 69.9 per game.
A trio of Tritons average more than 10 points a game. Steven Davis, a 6-2 senior guard, leads the way with an 11.5 points per game average, followed closely by Johnathon Matthews and Elijah Watson at 11.1 and 10.7 respectively.
Eric Dust hauls in 4.8 boards a game to lead UMSL in rebounding while Watson hands out 5.2 assists per game to lead not only his team but the entire GLVC.
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.
by John Spugnardi
