 "Photo: Loyola Athletic Department/ Steve Woltmann")
After dropping back-to-back league games this week to teams from the Dairy State, Loyola entered the Horizon League Tournament as the eighth seed, traveling to Cleveland State in their first round game to play the fifth-seeded Vikings. The Ramblers needed to bring their ‘A’ game in order to spring a first-round upset, something that was evidently missing during the second half against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the first half against Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Against UWM, it was a tale of two halves for the Ramblers. They went into the locker room with a nine-point lead after holding the Panthers to 21 points in the first half. UWM doubled that total in the second half, outscoring the Ramblers 42-31 while holding on to the win, 63-61.
The second half turn-around was the result of several factors: First, the Panthers made it to the foul line 16 times, sinking 12 of their shots.
They also increased their field goal percentage from 31.8 percent to 52.2 percent. While Loyola shot 56 percent from the field in the second half, they failed to make a single trip to the charity stripe. They only shot three free throws for the game.
Loyola’s defense couldn’t clamp down on UWM’s stars, as their big guns stepped up after intermission. Anthony Hill had 13 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and Ricky Franklin scored 15 of his 20 after the break. Franklin had four three-pointers as he essentially willed the Panthers back into the game with his play. Those threes were big, as Loyola’s defense was playing tight and collapsing on the inside. Franklin’s outside shooting forced Loyola to extend its defense, opening things up inside for Hill.
Based on the great start Loyola had, it seemed to be impossible that UWM was even in the game.
They were really sharp at the beginning, racing out to a 25-10 lead. At that point, however, UWM went into a zone and the Ramblers stopped getting the looks they had previously.
Loyola also committed 16 turnovers for the game, a figure that hurt them especially when they were playing against a zone.
The Panthers opened up the first four minutes of the second half on an 11-4 run, bringing them back into the game. From there it was a back-and-forth affair until senior guard Aric Van Weelden’s three-quarters court heave fell short at the buzzer.
Junior guard Terrance Hill summed up the feelings of the team, saying losing like that was “just demoralizing.”
Hill had 11 points, second on the team to junior guard Geoff McCammon’s game-high 22. Sophomore forward Walt Gibler added eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds off of the bench.
Hosting the Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, Loyola came out flat while Green Bay came out firing as they opened up a 28-10 lead that stretched to 50-30 at the half.
Green Bay made nine threes in the first half, en route to shooting 57.6 percent from the field during the opening 20 minutes.
After the break, the Ramblers played much better basketball and slowly started chipping their way back into it, eventually cutting it to 12.
Yet they couldn’t overcome the three-headed monster that was the guard trio of senior Troy Cotton (19) and juniors Bryquis Perine (16 points), and Rahmon Fletcher (23). Their 58 combined points were more than enough to help the Phoenix control the game throughout, leading to a 87-71 victory.
Gibler led Loyola in scoring with 18 points. Sophomore guard Courtney Stanley had 14 points to go along with seven assists. McCammon added 11 points while freshman forward Ben Averkamp chipped in 10 points.
Senior forward Andy Polka pulled down eight rebounds in both games. This gave him an 8.8 rebounds per game average, which is now officially the best in the Horizon League for the regular season.
“Andy is able to move anyone out of the way on the court,” said Averkamp in regard to Polka’s prowess. “When he moves them, he then releases well from his man and is able to go meet the ball better than anyone else in this league.”
The Ramblers played their final game of the season against Cleveland State as a part of the Speedway Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship tournament. LU ended the season with a 14-point loss to the Vikings 80-66, leaving them with a final record of 14-16.
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