AMHERST, Mass. – Loyola Chicago clinched a double-bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament next week with a 74-51 win at Massachusetts to close the regular season.
Jayden Dawson led the Ramblers with 17 points, while
Kymany Houinsou recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Loyola improves to 21-10 overall and 12-6 in A-10 play.
"There's three or four games a year where you know you are going to win no matter what happens and that was clearly today for us," said head coach
Drew Valentine. "UMass came out and jumped on us early forcing me to call a timeout. We needed to get focused and do a better job defending the glass.
Jalen DeLoach and
Francis Nwaokorie did a really good job stabilizing us in that moment and we took off from there."
How It Happened
The Minutemen got ahead early, using an 8-0 run for a 10-3 edge. The Ramblers answered with their own eight unanswered sparked by
Jalen DeLoach in the paint.
Francis Nwaokorie and tied the game 10-10 on a three-point play, while
Miles Rubin claimed a one-point lead from the foul line.
Loyola began to heat up from the field and build a lead to double-figures on a 13-0 run by
Des Watson and
Jayden Dawson. They combined for three three-pointers in the stretch with Dawson's second putting Loyola up, 24-14. With 2:13 to play, Watson drained a three for the largest lead yet at 15, and the Ramblers remained in control at the break, 34-21.
The Ramblers opened the half with eight straight points, pushing the lead to 21 on steal and three by Dawson less than four minutes in. Dawson hit his fifth three of the game at the 12:18 mark for Loyola's largest edge yet at 25. UMass tried to chip its way back in, scoring seven straight with five at the line, but Edwards Jr. upped it back to 27 on a three to beat the shot clock at 7:01.
The lead stayed above 20 for the remainder of the game. Watson and Nwaokorie drained late threes, while
Daniil Glazkov got in the box score for Loyola's final points. Ramblers won, 74-51.
Inside the Box Score
- Dawson finished with 17 points on 6-14 from the field with five threes. He tallied two boards, three assists, two steals, and a block.
- Watson added 14 points on 5-9 from the field, while Edwards Jr. had 12 points.
- Loyola won the rebounding game, 43-35.
- Houinsou grabbed a career and team-high 10 rebounds, while Rubin and Edwards Jr. recorded eight and seven, respectively.
- The Ramblers also assisted 21 times to the Minutemen's five.
- Houinsou dished out a career-high 10 assists to finish with the double-double.
- Houinsou is the third Rambler to have a double-double this season.
- Rubin blocked three shots. He needs four more this season to break the single-season record (76) that he set last year.
- Loyola held UMass to 1-21 (.048) from three-point range and 17-64 (.266) from the field. It's the best field goal percentage defense against an A-10 opponent for the Ramblers since joining the league.
Up Next
The Ramblers will head to the A-10 Tournament next week. The double-bye sets them up for Friday's quarterfinal. A full bracket and schedule will be announced Saturday night by the league.
