CHICAGO – Five Ramblers scored double-figures, including a game-high 21 points from Justin Moore. Moore went 10-14 at the line, making seven in the final minute to help Loyola Chicago win over Central Michigan Tuesday night, 83-72. This marked Moore's second 20-point effort this season.
 
The Ramblers improve to 2-7 overall.
 
"I am really proud of our guys. It has obviously been a hard month, and we've been trying to get the guys to compete harder," said head coach Drew Valentine. "It wasn't perfect, but I've been asking them to raise their floor. If we play hard for two possessions out of 10, can we raise that to six? And I think we raised our floor tonight with our effort. They locked arms with each other and got it done. It finally looked like they were having fun out there."
 
How It Happened
The first half was a back-and-forth battle that saw 11 lead changes. Loyola held the first lead out of the gate with Moore's first points of the game. CMU's first lead came a little over three minutes into the game, and five more lead changes would come before the 12-minute media timeout. Moore and Joshua Ola-Joseph sparked the Ramblers with second chance buckets to build a bit of a lead. Moore drained a three, while Ola-Joseph's dunk put them up three.
 
The Ramblers built their lead to the largest yet at 11:09 on a Miles Rubin layup, 19-14. The next few minutes four more lead changes before the Chippewas remained in control. CMU began to heat up from three with three different Chippewas connecting to give them their largest leads on each make. Logan Mcintire drained one from deep to beat the buzzer, taking a 39-31 lead at the break.
 
Deywilk Tavarez hit a three to send the Ramblers on a 7-0 run to open the second, cutting the Chippewa lead down to one. Despite CMU upping its lead back to five, Loyola continued to battle and regained a lead on a 9-0 run. Tavarez scored five of the nine, including a three at the 14:29 mark, putting the Ramblers back in the lead, 49-47.
 
Loyola's lead grew to double-figures with the help of a 16-2 run. Ola-Joseph had back-to-back fast break finishes at the hoop, while Rubin scored eight in the stretch. Kymany Houinsou would fly in to cap the run with a back-door dunk for a 12-point edge with 5:12 to play. The largest lead came at the line on a pair of free throws from Houinsou, 74-60. The Chippewas would cut the lead down to nine twice in the final minute, but Loyola converted on late free throws to hold on to the win, 83-72.
 
Inside the Box Score
- This marks Moore's second 20-point effort this season. His 21 points was a game-high. He went 5-12 from the field and 10-14 at the line.
- Moore also added four assists, one rebound, and one steal.
- Rubin tied his season-high 16 points on 7-9 from the field. He grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and tallied two steals and a block.
- Tavarez and Houinsou recorded 11 points each. Tavarez drained three from deep, while Houinsou grabbed five boards and tallied six assists.
- Kayde Dotson wrapped up the double-figure efforts with 10 points.
- Ola-Joseph tallied five boards for the Ramblers, four of which were on the offensive glass.
- The Ramblers shot 50 percent from the field, going 27-54. Loyola hit one more three than CMU and finished 23-33 at the line to SMU's 13-17.
- Loyola converted 10 offensive boards to 17 points.
 
Up Next
Loyola and Princeton will play at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6 in Gentile.