In Short
Southern Illinois (12-10, 6-3 MVC) rallied from a 10-point, first-half deficit to earn a 68-63 victory over Loyola University Chicago (14-8, 6-3 MVC) tonight at Banterra Center. The loss is the Ramblers' second straight.
 
Coach Moser's Thoughts
"Southern was tough and really guarded. I've got to do a better job of getting Krut (Cameron Krutwig) the ball. Marquise (Kennedy) was aggressive tonight and really competed."
 
How It Happened
Loyola scored the first six points of the game before Southern Illinois rallied to even the score at 9-9. Minutes later, with the score knotted up at 15-15, a Lucas Williamson layup was followed by three-pointer from Keith Clemons and Tom Welch to account for a string of eight unanswered points that moved the Ramblers ahead, 23-15.
 
Back-to-back Salukis triples from Ronnie Suggs and Eric McGill chopped the Loyola lead down to 23-21, but Cameron Krutwig scored five straight points as part of a 10-2 spurt that extended the Ramblers' advantage to 33-23.
 
However, Loyola went scoreless over the final four and a half minutes of the period as SIU closed within 33-31 at the half. The Ramblers, coming off their worst shooting performance of the year at Northern Iowa, knocked down 54.5 percent (12-for-22) of its field goal tries in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Southern Illinois seized its first lead of the game early in the second half, scoring five of the first seven points of the period to move in front, 36-35, with 16:21 remaining. The Salukis ran that lead to 41-35 before the Ramblers were able to stem the tide on a Williamson layup for the Ramblers' first field goal in 11 minutes, covering two halves.
 
The Salukis bumped their lead to 47-40 but Loyola got within three points, at 48-45, on a Marquise Kennedy layup. After SIU ran its lead back to seven (56-49), Kennedy scored seven straight points, the last on a driving layup, to knot the score at 56-56 with a shade over four minutes left to play.
 
However, four unanswered Salukis tallies put the hosts back ahead, 60-56, and a three from Tate Hall got the Ramblers within one (60-59), but that was as close as they would get.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Kennedy scored a team-high 18 points for Loyola, which also got 15 points and seven rebounds from Krutwig.
• Eric McGill scored a game-high 27 points to lead SIU.
• Loyola shot just 23.8 percent (5-for-21) from beyond the arc.

 
Up Next
Loyola returns home to a sold-out Gentile Arena Saturday night (Feb. 1) to battle in-state rival Bradley. The game, which will be televised live on ESPN2, tips off at 7 p.m. CT.