KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Bellarmine likes to speed teams up on defense and relies on ball movement when it has the ball. That formula worked for the No. 7 Knights on Saturday as they held the Truman State University men's basketball team to just 28 first-half points en route to an 82-70 win over the Bulldogs inside Pershing Arena.

Bellarmine (24-2, 15-2 GLVC) has won seven games in a row and now leads the all-time series 4-2 while Truman (16-9, 11-5 GLVC) had its four-game winning streak snapped. In the two teams' most-recent meeting, three Bulldogs scored in double-figures including Brodric Thomas (pictured/21), Jake Velky (19) and Zach Fischer (10). Thomas led the way in steals with three, Fischer had a team-high five rebounds (tied for season worst) and despite not scoring, Turner Scott had six assists to just one turnover.

In the team head-to-head, Bellarmine out-rebounded Truman by nine, 33-24, but the Bulldogs had 10 steals to the Knights' five. Bellarmine held Truman to 70 total points, which ties the season low set at Northwest Missouri State, and 28 first-half points, which is even with the lowest mark of the season set vs. Lindenwood. The Knights lockdown defense forced a season high 16 Bulldog giveaways, 13 of which came in the first half. In those first 20 minutes, Bellarmine built its lead to as big as 17, 40-23, thanks in part to a 19-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

All four of the game's ties and each of its three lead changes occurred in the first 10 minutes and change. At that point, it was knotted up, 18-18, before Bellarmine scored 22 of the next 27 points to take that 17-point lead, 40-23, with 2:45 to play until the break. Truman was able to get the deficit down to 14, 42-28, heading into the locker room, though. Out of the intermission, the scoring was a bit more back and forth, but the Knights outscored the Bulldogs 18-10 over the first seven minutes and change to go up by 22, 60-38, with 12:34 on the clock. From there on out, the away team's advantage was as big as 24, 72-48, and the hosts cut it to 10, 77-67, but got no closer.

Next up, Truman will host William Jewell on Thursday with the tip set for 7:30 p.m. The Bulldogs took the season's first meeting with the Cardinals back on Feb. 8 in Liberty, 81-80, after Jacob Socha stole the ball as time expired.

#BewareOfDog