Dec. 23, 2005
Box Score
IRVINE, Calif. - Blake Schilb's 17-foot jumper from the left wing with 3.6 seconds remaining in regulation lifted Loyola University Chicago (8-2) to a 74-72 victory over UC Irvine (4-5) tonight at the Bren Center. Schilb, who was held without a field goal for the first time in his career in Loyola's game at San Diego Tuesday, buried 10 of 16 shots from the field en route to a season-high 26 points tonight.
Loyola and UC Irvine exchanged baskets for the first 15 minutes of the game before the Ramblers closed the first half on an 18-7 run to take a 44-33 lead at the break. Schilb scored 14 of his season-high 26 points in the first stanza and the Ramblers limited the Anteaters to 35 percent shooting.
Brandon Woods' lay-up with 12:21 left in the game gave Loyola a seemingly comfortable 59-44 lead, its largest of the evening. However, the Anteaters chipped away at the deficit. Aaron Fitzgerald scored 16 of UC Irvine's final 18 points and his two free throws with 58 seconds left gave UCI a 72-70 lead.
Schilb's dunk eight seconds later tied the score at 72. After a UC Irvine turnover with 34 seconds left, the Ramblers ran the clock down to 11 seconds before calling timeout to set up Schilb's game-winning heroics. Following Schilb's jumper with just over three seconds left on the clock, UC Irvine was unable to corral the ball and get off a shot attempt.
Loyola bounced back from a poor shooting night at San Diego by burying 54 percent of its tries from the field tonight. In addition to his 26 points, Schilb added five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Leon Young, playing in front of a hometown crowd, chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds in his first career start. Majak Kou tallied 12 points and a pair of blocks off the bench and played tough defense to limit UCI's leading scorer, Ross Schraeder to 11 points on 2 of 9 shooting. Schraeder had been posting 22.8 points per game over his last four outings. Chris Logan added 10 points for the Ramblers.
After taking a few days off for the holidays, the Ramblers kick off the Horizon League slate at Cleveland State on Dec. 29.
