#1 Loyola Chicago (67) vs. #9 Valparaiso (54)
RECORDS AND TOURNAMENT NOTES: Today was Loyola’s fourth straight tourney game holding its foe below 55 points; the most consecutive games in tourney history of which that defensive stat has been true. The three previous three for Loyola include UNI with 50, Bradley with 54 and Illinois State with 49, all last year.
LOYOLA CHICAGO WIN: The defending MVC tourney champion Ramblers extend their win streak to three in a row and improve to 20-12 on the season for their second 20-win campaign in a row and 14thtime in school history. Loyola’s overall MVC Tourney record improves to 7-4 and the Ramblers head to the semifinals for the second year in a row and third time in program history. Loyola finishes 3-0 vs. Valpo this season and has now won five in a row vs. the Crusaders. Coach Porter Moser is 246-224 overall and 141-123 at Loyola. Loyola achieved first back to back 20 win seasons since 84-85.
VALPARAISO LOSS: The Crusaders finished their season with a 15-18 record and Valpo is 0-5 vs. Loyola since joining the MVC in 2017. Coach Matt Lottich is 54-44 in his third season at VU
CHICAGO LOYOLA NOTES: Marques Townes scored 15 points to push pass 500 for the season to 508. Townes has scored in double digits in all but 4 games this year. Cameron Krutwig has scored 16 or more points for the fifth time in the last six games. Krutwig’s MVC tourney scoring high was 11 in last year’s championship game before he got 18 today. Loyola finished with a .519 shooting mark for the game, hitting above 50 percent for the 10th time this season.
VALPARAISO NOTES: Jaume Sorolla had three blocks today to give him 95 career blocks, passing Harry Bell (94) for sixth in program history. Freshman Javon Freeman had one steal and finished three steals shy of the program’s season record. Bakari Evelyn finished the season with 696 career points. Daniel Sackey had 11 points as he scored in double digits for the sixth time and is the Crusaders’ leading scorer for the second time.
First Half: The Ramblers took a 7-0 lead at the outset and Valpo was scoreless at the first media time out, having missed all six of its shots while Loyola was 3 of 4 from the floor. Derrik Smits got the Crusaders onto the board for the first time with a bucket at the 15:20 mark to close the gap to 9-2. Loyola stayed hot at 8 of 11 from the floor through nine minutes, building a 20-7 margin. While Loyola was hitting .714 (10/14) from the floor, Valpo was at .278 (5/18). Loyola pushed its lead to 20 at 33-13 with 2:50 left in the half. The lead was 22 at half at 40-18 with Loyola hitting .640 (16/25) with Valpo at .258 (8/31). Loyola is 16-3 when leading at the half this season. All-MVC first teamer Cameron Krutwig hit 5 of 9 from the floor the first half to lead all scorers with 10 points. Loyola’s Lucas Williamson tweaked an ankle with 4:28 left in the half and did not return during the half. It was Loyola’s second straight 40-point first half and Valpo’s biggest halftime deficit of the season.
Second Half: The Loyola lead stayed around the 20-point mark in the early going of the second half before an 8-0 run pushed the Ramblers in front 56-29 with 11:21 left to play. Valpo logged a 9-0 run to get back within 56-38 with 7:40 left. The lead stayed n the 20-point range until Jaume Sorolla buried a trey with 1:30 left to cut the Loyola lead to 67-52. Townes added a follow dunk to make it 67-54 which was the closest Valpo would get in the last half.
