PHILADELPHIA – The Ramblers pulled off a second-half comeback to hand the Hawks their third straight league loss, 78-75.
Jayden Dawson scored five straight points under the two-minute mark helping Loyola regain a late lead to pull off the win. Dawson finished the night with 20 points (8-14 FG, 4-8 3PT) for his second 20-point performance of the year.
The Ramblers improve to 11-6 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic 10.
"Tonight, I'm proud of the resiliency," said head coach
Drew Valentine. "We stayed with our game plan. I am proud of the way we stayed with it. I can't say enough about Phil Alston. His efficiency might not have been where it normally is, but he was all over the place today. I could go on and on about guys stepping up and playing big roles today. Whoever came in, their confidence in us winning the game never wavered."
How It Happened
For the second straight game,
Jayden Dawson put Loyola's first points on the board with a three-pointer from right off the top of the key. Loyola then netted a pair of threes from
Philip Alston and
Patrick Mwamba. Mwamba then made it eight unanswered points for Loyola with a turnaround jumper to take an 11-4 lead.
The Hawks rallied tying the game, 11-11, after a 7-0 run sparked by Lynn Greer III.
Braden Norris and
Des Watson began to heat up beyond the arc to hold on to a narrow lead over SJU. With 7:32 on the clock, Erik Reynolds II completed a three-point play for SJU's second lead of the game, 28-26. Norris and Dawson combined for three from deep down the stretch helping the Ramblers regain an edge by the break, 39-36.
The second half saw three lead changes by the 16-minute mark. Cameron Brown's three at 16:02 swung the lead back to the Hawks, 48-46. Loyola would cut the lead back to two on three occasions, but Kacper Klaczek's three ahead of the eight-minute media timeout gave SJU its largest lead yet at five.
Reynolds extended the lead to nine after sinking threes on back-to-back possessions for the Hawks. They couldn't shake the Ramblers who made it a one-possession game with help from Alston and
Dame Adelekun forcing the Hawks to call a timeout at 4:03. The run continued for Loyola as Watson fed Alston an alley-oop from the baseline out-of-bounds cutting it down to one. On the next trip down the floor, Adelekun tied it 71-71 with just under three to play.
Dawson kept it tied 73-73 with a floater in the paint and sunk a three in transition on the next trip down the court swinging the lead in Loyola's favor, 76-73. In the final 30 seconds, Norris put a pair away at the charity stripe helping the Ramblers pull away, 78-75.
Inside the Box Score
- Three Ramblers finished in double-figures. Dawson's 20 points was a team-high, while Alston and Norris added 18 and 13 points, respectively.
- Watson totaled nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
- Adelekun finished with nine points and seven boards off the bench.
- Loyola held SJU to nine made three-pointers after averaging 11.2 makes per game ahead of the match-up.
- The Ramblers out-rebounded the Hawks, 41-31.
Up Next
The Ramblers return to Gentile Arena Wednesday night. Loyola and Massachusetts tipoff on CBS Sports Network at 6 p.m.
