ST. LOUIS (March 5, 2021)
 
In Short
Three players scored in double figures, led by freshman center Jacob Hutson with 13 points, and No. 20 Loyola University Chicago (22-4) connected for 10 three-pointers, to roll to a 73-49 victory over Southern Illinois (12-14) this afternoon in a quarterfinal round game of the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Championship at Enterprise Center.
 
Coach Moser's Thoughts
"The last three or four games, there was a lot of weight on our shoulders, with winning the Valley, all the talk about the NCAA Tournament but today I thought we came out really loose."
 
How It Happened
Things couldn't have gone much better for Loyola at the outset, as five different players scored during a stretch of 10 unanswered points to open the game, and during that opening run, the Ramblers defense frustrated the Salukis into missing their first seven shots. 
 
Southern Illinois cut the gap to 21-14 on a basket from Dalton Banks, but a conventional three-point play from Cameron Krutwig ignited a 12-2 spurt that included three points from Hutson, who provided some productive minutes, to extend Loyola's lead to 33-16, the largest of the half. 
 
The Salukis ran off six straight points to slice the deficit to 33-22, but a pair of Tate Hall free throws gave the Ramblers a 35-22 advantage they would take into the half. Loyola's top-ranked scoring defense forced SIU into just 9 of 27 shooting (.333), including 2 of 10 (.200) from beyond the arc, in the first 20 minutes.
 
A flurry of three-pointers, two from Keith Clemons and one each from Braden Norris and Williamson, fueled Loyola's 18-2 start to the second half that ran the lead to 53-24 with 13:53 left in the contest and SIU was never able to recover from that blow. As a team, the Ramblers knocked down 8 of 13 treys (.615) in the second half alone.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Hutson, a freshman center, came off the bench for a team-high 13 points and he added three rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
• Williamson and Norris contributed 11 points apiece, and Norris dished out nine assists, falling just shy of a double-double. 
• Aher Uguak pitched in nine points and Krutwig totaled eight points, six boards and three assists.
• Dating back to 2018, the Ramblers have now held opponents to 51.2 points per game in its last five MVC Championship wins, with none of those foes tallying more than 54 points.
• Anthony D'Avanzo scored 18 points to lead the Salukis, who shot 39.6 percent (19-for-48) from the field and 22.2 percent (4-for-18) from three-point territory.
• With eight points. today, Krutwig moved past two-time All-American Jerry Harkness on Loyola's career scoring chart into fifth place with 1,752 points.

 
Up Next
Loyola will play the winner of the No. 4 Indiana State versus No. 5 Evansville game tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT. That game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.