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CHICAGO - Loyola (15-10, 5-8 Valley) used 19 points and eight rebounds from Montel James and got a couple of key defensive stops down the stretch to knock off Southern Illinois, 66-62, tonight at Gentile Arena. The win is the Ramblers' first over the Salukis since they joined the Missouri Valley Conference and first overall since 1981. Southern Illinois drops to 10-16 (3-10) with the loss.

After James opened the scoring, the visitors knocked down a pair from the arc to take the early lead. Loyola moved back in front courtesy of a three-point play from Jeff White and a three-pointer from Devon Turk gave LU a 22-16 lead at the 9:26 mark. Southern Illinois' Deion Lavender buried back-to-back treys to immediately draw the Salukis even again and the team went back and forth the rest of the half. Earl Peterson got a friendly roll on a triple to put the Ramblers back on top in the final minute of the half but Lavender knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the half, a long contested one at the buzzer, to give the visitors a 34-33 lead at halftime. Both teams shot the ball extremely well, with SIU hitting 54% versus Loyola's 52% mark, and each team canned five from downtown in the period.

Consecutive buckets from James to open the second half gave Loyola the lead back and LU opened a 42-38 lead on a Christian Thomas dunk at the 14:53 mark. Southern Illinois answered right back, ripping off nine of the next 11 points to grab a 47-44 lead. Donte Ingram connected from three-point range to forge the 10th tie of the game and the teams continued to trade baskets. After a Beane steal and dunk put SIU back on top, two James baskets sandwiched a pair of Peterson free throws in a 6-0 spurt that gave the home team a 61-56 advantage with just under five minutes to play.

The Salukis got within a point (62-61) on a Jalen Pendleton basket but Peterson answered with two more free throws to bump the lead back to three. After Peterson split a pair at the line to keep it a one-possession game (65-62) with 1:05 left, Loyola picked up one key stop on a SIU offensive foul. The Ramblers came up empty on offense but forced another turnover with six seconds remaining. Turk knocked down the first charity toss to make it a two-possession game and account for the final margin.

James was terrific, knocking down 9-of-13 from the floor en route to his game-high 19 points. Turk added 15 points and three steals while Peterson and Ingram finished with nine points apiece. White put together one of his best games of the season off the bench, pitching in with seven points and eight assists without a turnover in 28 minutes.

Loyola looks to build some momentum when it returns to action on Sunday at Bradley. Tip-time is set for 1 p.m. from Peoria.