CHICAGO – Loyola Chicago secured it's 10^th home win of the season over Fordham Wednesday night, 70-66. Sheldon Edwards Jr. led the Ramblers with 13 points and a career-high seven assists.
 
With the win, Loyola improves to 12-7 overall and 3-3 in A-10 play.
 
"The positive from tonight is, we'd rather learn through winning than through losing," said head coach Drew Valentine. "We had a lot of self-inflicted errors tonight and weren't playing out best, but we had the opportunity to go out and still get a win."
 
How It Happened
Des Watson and Jalen Quinn got Loyola going early with four straight points in the opening minute, but Fordham answered with back-to-back threes and led 7-6 at the first media timeout. Kymany Houinsou provided a spark off the bench, finding Miles Rubin inside for a dunk and completing an and-one play on the next possession to recapture a one-point lead for Loyola a few minutes later.
 
Fordham retook the lead and built it to seven on a layup by Japhet Medor at the 6:47 mark, but Quinn and Jayden Dawson answered with two straight from deep to cut it to one with under five to play. The Rams held on to the lead until Edwards Jr. hit three threes in the final three minutes, including two back-to-back to snag a halftime lead, 34-31.  
 
Loyola's lead didn't last long into the second as Fordham scored the first eight points to go up by five on an Abdou Tsimbila layup nearly three minutes in. Watson tied it 39-all less than a minute later, but the Rams held control until Rubin sparked a 10-0 run with 8:07 to play. DeLoach scored four consecutive points with a dunk at the 6:18 mark to regain a lead for the Ramblers, while Dawson capped the run with a turn-around jumper for a six-point lead.
 
Jackie Johnson III got the Rams within two by the four-minute media timeout. It was the closest Fordham would get for the remainder of the half. Rubin completed a three-point play on the next possession, while Francis Nwaokorie, Dawson and Watson saw time at the charity stripe in the final minutes. Loyola held on to win, 70-66.
 
Inside the Box Score
- Edwards Jr. led Loyola with 13 points and tallied a new career-best seven assists. He also had a season-best three steals.
- Watson and Dawson scored 11 each.
- Rubin and Houinsou added nine points apiece. Rubin also tallied six boards, two assists, and a block.
- Loyola shot 52.1 percent from the field (25-48) to Fordham's 44.9 percent (22-49).
- The Rams made nine threes to Loyola's six.
- The Ramblers converted 18 Fordham turnovers into 23 points and also led in points in the paint (34-20).
 
UP NEXT
Loyola returns to action on the road next week at George Mason on Jan. 29.