INDIANAPOLIS (March 27, 2021)
 
In Short
No. 8 seed Loyola University Chicago (26-5) struggled through its worst shooting effort of the season, connecting on only 33.3 percent (18-for-54) of its field goal attempts, as twelfth-seeded Oregon State (20-12) held on for a 65-58 victory in the NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinals this afternoon at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The loss snaps the Ramblers' eight-game winning streak and concludes their 2020-21 campaign.
 
Head Coach Porter Moser's Thoughts
"That was a very hard scene in our locker room. These guys have invested so much and it's very tough when it comes to an end."
 
How It Happened
Loyola's top-ranked defense lived up to its billing early, forcing Oregon State to misfire on its first six field goal attempts, but the Ramblers only held a 7-1 edge. Through eight minutes of a defensive struggle, Loyola possessed a 9-3 lead and had forced four OSU turnovers and limited the Beavers to 1-for-8 shooting. However, Loyola failed to connect on its first five attempts from long range. 
 
Oregon State put together seven straight tallies to stake claim to its first lead of the afternoon, at 10-9, but Braden Norris answered with a three with 7:24 remaining for Loyola's first field goal in nearly 10 minutes. 
 
After a Tariq Silver triple put the Beavers back on top (13-12), a pair of foul shots courtesy of Aher Uguak and a basket from Cameron Krutwig gave Loyola a 16-13 advantage. However, from there, Oregon State ran off 11 unanswered points to close the half to take a 24-16 lead into the locker room. 
 
Loyola held the Beavers to 33 percent shooting (8-for-24) in the first half, but connected on only 4 of 23 field goal tries itself.
 
A Jarod Lucas trey with 16:04 left to play in the second half extended OSU's advantage to 33-22, and minutes later, an Ethan Thompson dunk stretched the Beavers advantage to 37-24, their largest of the game, as Loyola's shooting struggles continued. 
 
Loyola assembled a 13-6 run punctuated by a three from Lucas Williamson, to climb within 43-37 with 8:09 left and after the Beavers nudged their lead to 47-39, a Norris trey and Aher Uguak layup sliced the deficit to 47-44. However, Jarod Lucas responded with a baseline jumper and Zach Reichle added a pair of free throws to give Oregon State some breathing room, at 51-44. 
 
The Ramblers cut it to four on a pair of occasions, but each time, the Beavers had an answer and Oregon State would hit 10 of its 12 free throw attempts in the final minute to seal the victory.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Ethan Thompson played all 40 minutes and finished with a game-high 22 points for Oregon State.
• Krutwig produced 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for his 23^rdcareer double-double.
• Williamson delivered 10 points, seven boards and three assists and Norris totaled 10 points and six assists.
• Uguak and Keith Clemons added eight points apiece for Loyola, which finished just 5-for-23 (.217) from beyond the arc.
• If this is Krutwig's final game in a Loyola uniform, he concludes his career with 1,833 points (5^thin Loyola history), 944 rebounds (7^th) and 373 assists (8^th) and is the only player in Loyola history to rank in the program's top 10 in all three categories.
• Williamson and Krutwig have led the Ramblers to 99 victories in the last four years, the most wins over a four-year period in school history.