CHICAGO – Loyola Chicago fell at home to Northern Illinois Friday night, 76-59. The Ramblers were led by Miles Rubin who tied his season-high 16 points on 7-11 from the field.
 
With the loss, the Ramblers fall to 1-5.
 
"Tonight was incredibly disappointing," said head coach Drew Valentine. "I thought we had a great week of practice and good attitudes. We've gotta be better. I have to do a better job figuring out who can play, when to sub, and how to have success because it is clearly not working out for us right now."
 
How It Happened
The Huskies got on the board first with three, but the Ramblers responded with eight unanswered points. Rubin opened with an alley-oop dunk, while Chuck Love III and Deywilk Tavarez went for back-to-back threes to open an 8-3 lead. NIU battled back to tie it 8-8 on a fast break dunk with 16:40 to play and would swing momentum back in their favor on a 16-3 run.
 
Three straight threes gave NIU a 17-13 edge by the 12-minute mark. Joshua Ola-Joseph attempted to break up NIU's scoring with a three of his own, but the Huskies scored the next seven to go up by eight. The lead hit double-digits on a four-point play by Makhai Valentine at 8:16. Loyola used its own 7-0 run to cut the lead down to four and force a NIU timeout with just over five to play, but the hot-shooting Huskies were able to keep some distance, taking a 42-37 lead into the break.
 
Out of halftime, Loyola scored the first four points to get within one, 42-41. The Huskies punched back with a 20-4 run to jump ahead by 19 and force two Loyola timeouts in the stretch. NIU's lead grew to 20 on a fast break layup at the 7:14 mark
 
Tavarez looked to spark a Rambler rally with a 7-0 run of his own capped by a three-pointer at the 2:51 mark to cut the lead down to 13. The late game effort wasn't enough. NIU wins, 76-59.
 
Inside the Box Score
- Rubin tallied 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. He was 7-11 from the field.
- Tavarez added 15 points on 5-10 from the field, including three threes.
- Brayden Young made his career debut.
- The Ramblers were outrebounded 39-20.
- Loyola shot 44.2 percent from the field (23-52), while NIU shot 42.2 percent (27-64). The Huskies finished with 14 made threes.
 
Up Next
Loyola heads to Palm Springs for the Acrisure Series. The Ramblers will take on UNI Tuesday at 3 p.m. CT.