CHICAGO, Ill. (March 1, 2023)
 
In Short…
Rhode Island's Ishmael Leggett hit two free throws with two seconds remaining to lift the Rams past Loyola University Chicago (9-20, 3-14 A-10), 79-77, on Senior Night inside Gentile Arena.
 
Sheldon Edwards scored a team-high 16 points off the bench and was 1-of-4 Ramblers to score in double figures. Braden Norris, who hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left had 15 while Jalen Quinn and Marquise Kennedy each scored 10.
 
Prior to the game, Loyola honored its two graduating Ramblers, Bryce Golden and Jeameril Wilson.
 
How It Happened
After Loyola built an early 10-6 lead, Rhode Island used a 12-2 scoring run to jump ahead by a 18-12 margin. Six unanswered points by the Ramblers over the next 1:15 pulled the game level at 18-all with just over 12 minutes to play in the opening half.
 
Both offenses began to heat up, as the two squads combined to go 14-of-18 from the floor over the next six and a half minutes. The hot shooting allowed Rhode Island to slowly build a seven-point lead at 38-31lead with 5:30 to go in the first half.
 
Despite neither team hitting a field goal over the final 3+ minutes of the first half, both teams shot over 50% from the field. Rhode Island took a seven-point lead into the halftime break, leading 44-37. Marquise Kennedy had a team-high 10 points at the break on 3-of-4 shooting while Tom Welch added seven on an identical 3-for-4 effort in the first 20 minutes
 
The Rams scored 12 of the first 14 points of the second half to take a 17-point lead before Braden Norris looked to single-handedly bring the Ramblers back into it. Norris scored the first eight points of a 10-0 Loyola run as the Ramblers quickly cut the deficit back down to seven.
 
Six quick points by Loyola over a 31-second span brought Loyola within six at 66-60 with 5:04 to play and forced the visitors to burn a timeout.
 
Loyola continued to claw back in the closing minutes, with Sheldon Edwards knocking down a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left to make it a 3-point game at 77-74. Following a stop on the defensive end, Norris buried a triple from the top of the key to tie the game at 77-all with 10 seconds left. Rhode Island's Ishmael Leggett was fouled with two seconds left, and converted the pair to put the Rams back in front. Loyola had the ball in the frontcourt with 1.7 remaining, but the inbounds pass towards the rim was swatted away, sealing the two-point decision.
 
Inside The Box Score

• Loyola got 43 points off the bench Wednesday and outscored Rhode Island in bench points, 43-16.
• As a team, the Ramblers committed just seven turnovers in the contest, the second-fewest in a game this season.
• Seven of the 10 Ramblers who saw action Wednesday had at least five points while 9-of-10 Loyola players had at leads two points.

 
Up Next
Loyola plays its final regular season game on Saturday, March 4 as the Ramblers head to Philadelphia to take on LaSalle.