Marques Townes made a key 3-pointer and finished with 12 points as top-seeded Loyola-Chicago beat No. 5 seed Bradley 62-54 on Saturday in a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinal at the Scottrade Center.
Loyola (27-5) has won a season-best nine straight games and will face the Illinois State-Southern Illinois winner on Sunday in the championship.
Bradley trailed the entire second half and pulled to 56-54 with 4:47 to play but didn’t’ score again, missing its last five field goals and two free throws. Townes hit a 3-pointer with 1:25 remaining and the Ramblers made 3 of 4 free throws to end it.
Clayton Custer also scored 12 points for Loyola-Chicago. Cluster and Townes each made two of the Ramblers’ nine 3-pointers.
Donte Thomas, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, and Nate Kennell scored 12 points apiece for Bradley (20-13). Darrell Brown chipped in 11.
