Box Score | Postgame Comments

CHICAGO - On a night when its offense was a bit out of sync, Loyola's defense came up big down the stretch as the Ramblers knocked off Drake, 50-47, tonight at Gentile Arena. Loyola (13-4, 3-2 Valley) moves back over .500 in conference play while the Bulldogs drop to 3-14 (0-5) with the loss.

Loyola got off to a sluggish start and trailed 11-7 with six minutes elapsed. A Devon Turk three-pointer keyed a 7-2 run that gave the Ramblers the lead (14-13) before Drake's Gary Ricks, Jr. got hot. Ricks knocked down three straight triples, with a Christian Thomas basket sandwiched in between, to put the Bulldogs in front by six (22-16) at the 7:10 mark. Turk answered with a trey of his own and Thomas followed with a traditional three-point play to forge another tie but Ricks would hit two more triples as the teams went to the locker room deadlocked at 30. Loyola shot 60% in the period but any advantage was negated by nine turnovers and seven first-half three-pointers from Drake, six by Ricks who scored 20 points in the half off the bench.

A Thomas three-ball and a Montel James basket opened the second-half scoring and gave the Ramblers the lead back but they had trouble putting away their visitors. Ricks' seventh triple put Drake back in front (38-37) with 12:30 left and points proved to be at a premium the rest of the way. After Turk's fourth three-pointer gave LU the lead back, Jacob Enevold scored inside to give Drake a 45-44 lead at the 4:24 mark. Thomas scored in the paint to put the Ramblers back in front and Milton Doyle converted at the rim to make it a three-point game with 2:29 to play. The teams traded baskets, with Doyle feeding Thomas for a hoop at the 1:32 mark to give Loyola its three-point lead back, 50-47. That would prove to be the last points of the game, with Ricks missing a contested three-pointer in the waning seconds as the Ramblers escaped with the win.

Thomas rebounded nicely from a tough game against Wichita State, finishing 7-of-11 from the floor for his team-high 16 points. Turk joined him in double figures with 12 points (4-4 3FGs) while James added seven points and six rebounds off the bench. Doyle was held to just four points but did hand out a game-high seven assists. Ricks accounted for over half of Drake's points, leading all scorers with 24 points.

Loyola hits the road this weekend when it travels to Southern Illinois for a Sunday contest. Tip-off from Carbondale is set for 5 p.m.