Horizon League Links

Butler
Detroit
Illinois-Chicago
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Wright State
Youngstown State
Horizon Connection

WSU Hands LU Fourth Straight Loss

1/17/04
by John C. Thomas
Loyola’s unforced turnovers, poor rebounding, and woeful defense combined to give the Wright State Raiders a lopsided win, 83-68, Saturday afternoon at the Gentile Center. Paul McMillan scored 28 for the Ramblers, but received little scoring help from his teammates as Loyola dropped its fourth home game of the year-- matching their total home losses from the past two seasons combined.

The Ramblers took a quick three point lead on a long range shot by Blake Schilb, but the Raiders answered with a 6-0 run, and the Ramblers never saw another lead. Loyola battled through turnovers and tied the game at 11 all with 13 minutes left in the first half, but the Raiders put together a 16-4 run to lead 27-15 with seven minutes remaining in the half.

With the game looking like it could slip away early, McMillan assumed the Loyola scoring burden, notching 12 of Loyola’s 14 points in the last six minutes of the half and cutting into the WSU lead. The two teams headed into the locker room with the Raiders on top 37-29.

But the second half mirrored the first, and the Raiders slowly added on to their lead throughout the half. The WSU crew used very balanced scoring to achieve a 23 point cushion at 65-42 with just under 10 minutes to play. The two teams traded baskets the rest of the way until Raiders Coach Paul Biancardi pulled his starters in the last two minutes with an 81-59 lead. The Loyola bench outscored the Wright State bench 9-2 to provide the final score.

Paul McMillan scored a career-high 28 points for the Ramblers and earned another double-double with 10 rebounds. Freshman Andre Knox came off the bench in the last six minutes to score seven points. But the rest of the Loyola scorebook was a shambles. No other Loyola player scored more than eight points, while WSU’s Alex Kock (17 points) and Dashaun Wood (14 points) each registered career highs. Vernard Hollins led the Raiders with 18.

The Raiders shot 58% from the field and 57% behind the arc, outrebounded the taller Ramblers 33-28, and controlled the offensive glass by a 13-11 margin. The Raiders improve to 8-8 overall and 5-1 in the Horizon League, while Loyola falls to 6-9, 2-4 in the league.

In Loyola’s current four game losing streak, the Ramblers have given up an average of 82.3 points per game. In each of the last three losses, the opposition team has scored a season high. In the last three losses, five opposing players have registered a career high in scoring.

It isn’t going to get any easier for the Ramblers in the next few games. Loyola leaves Chicago immediately for Providence, R.I. to play Big East upstarts Providence College Monday night. Then the Ramblers play two home games against top Horizon teams UW-Green Bay and UIC on Thursday and next Monday.