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CHICAGO - Loyola turned up the defense over the last 12 minutes of the first half and saw its offense kick into gear as the Ramblers closed the half on a 35-3 run in an 84-51 victory over Eureka tonight at Gentile Arena. The Ramblers improve to 2-0 on the young season with the victory.

Playing a rare set of back-to-back games, Loyola came out a bit sluggish and Eureka took advantage, opening a 15-9 lead with 12:43 left. The Ramblers opened up hitting just three of their first 13 shots but, after a timeout, came out with renewed energy. Three consecutive jumpers from Devon Turk pulled the Ramblers even at 15 and he and Milton Doyle combined for 15 points as LU rattled off 19 in a row to take a 30-15 lead. A Eureka three-pointer only stemmed the tide momentarily and Loyola ripped off the next 14 points in succession, the last two coming on a Jeff White lay-in in the waning seconds, to take a 44-18 lead into intermission. After the 3-for-13 start, Loyola connected on 12-of-16 (.750) over the last 12 minutes of the half while its defense limited the Red Devils to just 21% accuracy.

A steal and breakaway dunk from Montel James pushed the lead to 33 early in the second half as Loyola was able to substitute liberally throughout the half. A three-pointer from Cal Kennedy made it a 40-point spread and the Ramblers cruised from there, with all 11 available players scratching the scorebook.

Doyle led the way for the Ramblers, finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds in just 18 minutes of play. Turk added 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Kennedy gave LU a third double-digit scorer, finishing with career-highs of 10 points (4-6 FGs) and five rebounds. Earl Peterson pitched in with nine points and James and Pernell Adgei added eight points apiece.

Loyola hits the road for the first time this season when it travels to Albuquerque to take on New Mexico on Wednesday night as part of the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge. Tip-time from The Pit is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be televised live on ROOT Sports.