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LU Nips the Chips

12/23/03
by John C. Thomas
Coach Farmer shuffled his starting lineup to send a message to a few hard-headed players and break the Ramblers out of their three game losing streak, and it worked. Loyola overcame a 12-point first half deficit behind the second consecutive career performance by freshman Blake Schilb and beat the Central Michigan Chippewas, 90-83, Tuesday afternoon at the Gentile Center. Schilb led all scorers with 24 points.

On the heels of a demoralizing performance in which the Ramblers blew a three point halftime lead and lost by 18 at home to Western Michigan, Coach Farmer shook up the starting lineup by starting freshmen Andre Knox and Blake Schilb. The coach also noticeably sat Paul McMillan to start the game, only the third time the senior has not started a contest in 38 career games at Loyola.

The Ramblers took the lead at 9-8 on free throws resulting from a technical foul, and extended it to 13-8 five minutes into the contest. But Central Michigan roared back behind the shooting of Kevin Nelson, who put the Chips up 40-28 with his 12th point of the game and just over three minutes remaining in the half. The sophomore guard came into the game averaging only 11.6 points per game. Loyola didn’t help their cause very much by making only seven of 16 free throws in the first half, but a 13-4 Loyola run in the final three minutes cut the Central lead to 44-41 at the break.

The Chips went cold in the second half, and coughed up the lead within the first six minutes of the period. Loyola extended their advantage to 63-53 on a Demetrius Williams jam with 11:35 left to play.

But this game was a battle of streaks, and Central came roaring back on the strength of long range bombs. CMU tied the game at 77 on a three pointer, and took an 83-80 lead on a three from freshman guard David Hoskins with just under two minutes left to play.

Loyola did not wither, though. The Ramblers clamped down on defense and shook off their free throw shooting woes to go 7-for-7 on their trips to the line down the stretch. LU finished with a 10-0 run as the Chips misfired on well-guarded desperation threes, and the Ramblers raised their record to 3-4.

Blake Schilb led the way for Loyola, registering his second consecutive career high with 24 points, but the 6’7” freshman forward added nine rebounds and five assists. Majak Kou and Demetrius Williams each scored 13 for the Ramblers, and Paul McMillan had 12 points. Seven different Ramblers scored six points or more.

The key stat was rebounds. Loyola out-boarded the Chips 45-32, led by Schilb with nine. Although CMU’s Sefton Barrett led all rebounders with 10, no one else on the Chips had more than five boards, and CMU’s leading rebounder was held to just three.

The win was much needed for Loyola, not only to stop a three game losing streak and a two-game home losing streak, but to turn the tide on three increasingly disappointing performances. Although the Ramblers again had early free throw problems-- at one point making only 7-of-19 at the line-- they hit with perfection down the stretch. And while CMU connected on 48% of their threes, they missed their final three in the last 90 seconds of the game.

The Ramblers head to the Bay Area after Christmas for the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic. Loyola will face Birmingham Southern and either the host St. Mary’s Gaels or St. Peter’s in consecutive games on Sunday and Monday.