EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Junior Espen Fjaerestad scored a career-high 19 points, but Wisconsin-Parkside lost to top-seed Bellarmine 79-68 in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday in the Ford Center.

Bellarmine, which advanced to Sunday's championship game, used an 8-0 run late in the second half to pull away from the Rangers.

Fjaerestad drilled a three-pointer to bring Wisconsin-Parkside to within 62-58 with 6:43 to play in the second half, but the Knights responded with the 8-0 run. Rusty Troutman hit a layup and two free throws to up the lead to 66-58 and layups by Alex Cook and Adam Eberhard increased the lead to 70-58 with 3:31 to play in the game.

A layup by Kendale McCullum and another three-pointer from Fjaerestad cut the lead to 70-63 at the 2:27 mark of the second, but Tyler Jenkins countered with a jumper and Al Davis made 1-of-2 free throw attempts to push the lead to 73-63 with 52 seconds to play.

Wisconsin-Parkside, which dropped to 22-7 on the season, got within seven points on two occasions in the final minute, but the Knights closed the game with a layup by Troutman and two free throws by Jenkins to seal the victory.

Bellarmine, which improved to 27-3 on the season, was led by Eberhard who scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Davis had 15 points and six assists and Troutman finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Fjaerstad was 5-of-8 from the three-point line and 4-of-5 from the free throw line to finish with 19 points. Alexander Brown scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds and McCullum added 10 points, seven assists and four steals.

Wisconsin-Parkside shot 52.0 percent from the floor in the second half, but Bellarmine shot 56.9 percent from the floor and 78.9 percent from the free throw line for the game.

Wisconsin-Parkside trailed by 22-18 at the 7:40 mark of the first half before the Knights responded with a 7-0 run to take a 29-18 lead with 6:05 to play before halftime.

A three-pointer by Fjaerestad and a layup by Goran Zagorac cut the lead to 29-23 at the 4:21 mark of the first half, but the Knights stretched the lead to 35-28 at halftime.

Wisconsin-Parkside trimmed the lead to 37-33 on a three-pointer by McCullum with 19:08 to play in the second half, but Bellarmine responded with a 7-0 run to increase the lead to 44-33 with 16:52 left to play.

The Rangers stayed within striking distance as Fjaerestad hit two three-pointers and Chavares Flanigan also connected from beyond the three-point line to bring Wisconsin-Parkside to within 48-44 with 14:27 left in the contest.

The teams exchanged baskets until the Knights reeled off their game-changing run late in the second half.

Wisconsin-Parkside will await the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field on Sunday (March 5) at 9:30 p.m. in hopes of extending its season.