Dec. 11, 2005
Box Score
CHICAGO - Junior Majak Kou scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to lead five Ramblers in double figures as Loyola surged to its seventh straight home win, an 80-65 victory over Purdue, tonight at the Gentile Center. For the Ramblers, the win was their first over a BigTen Conference foe since knocking off Northwestern in 1994 and pushes their overall record this season to 6-1, their best start since the 1979-80 season. Purdue drops to 3-4 with the loss.
"I'm proud of our guys," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "They gave a great effort tonight and I really felt like our guys wanted to play. We played with some poise and that was really good to see."
After Nate Minnoy drilled a three-pointer on the first possession of the game, Loyola hit back by scoring seven of the next nine points to take a 7-5 lead after three minutes. Blake Schilb found Leon Young inside for a lay-up moments later and Loyola was able to play from the front the rest of the half. Kou's only points of the half gave the Ramblers a six-point edge (15-9) and the teams traded baskets over the next five minutes before Chris Logan took over and gave them some breathing room. The senior guard scored nine straight Loyola points, the last two coming on a pair of free throws that gave the hosts a 26-17 edge with 5:59 to play. Tracy Robinson followed with a three-pointer from the left wing to push the lead into double figures for the first time and Loyola was able to extend it to as many as 14 points before settling on a 37-26 lead at intermission. Logan led all scorers with 11 points in the period and Young added nine to help the Ramblers to a 15-2 edge off the bench in the opening 20 minutes.
Purdue came out of the gates strong and it was able to pull within eight points on three different occasions in the first six minutes of the second half. However, the Ramblers had an answer each time and a pair of Kou treys followed by a long two-pointer on the fast break helped them restore a 13-point lead (54-41) with 13:27 on the clock. A Korey Spates bucket two minutes later made it a nine-point game but Kou stepped up again, scoring five points in a 7-0 run that made it a 63-47 game at the midway point of the half. The Boilermakers would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way and Kou closed it out by knocking down four consecutive free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Kou received plenty of support en route to his season-best scoring output. Logan finished the game with 14 points while the freshman duo of Young(13 points, seven rebounds) and J.R. Blount (12 points, six rebounds) continued their solid play. Schilb extended his streak of double figure scoring games to 31 while displaying his all-around game, finishing with 10 points, four rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots.
Loyola takes a week off for final exams before returning to the floor next Saturday (Dec. 17) when it hosts LakeForest. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Gentile Center.
