SECOND HALF
FINAL: Loyola 69, Kent State 61
Loyola held off three second-half runs by Kent State.
The Flashes fell behind 40-22 in the first half behind 25.9 percent shooting from the field. For the night, they shot just 43.8 percent from the foul line and missed too many free throws late. Add in 13 turnovers and you have some numbers that are hard to overcome.
Christian Thomas was very good again against Kent State. The Loyola forward led all scorers with 16 points to go with seven rebounds. Montel James added 11 points and 8 rebounds. Devon Turk added 15 for the Ramblers and Jeff White scored 13 off of the Ramblers' bench.
Derek Jackson scored 15 to lead the Flashes. Jimmy Hall and Kellon Thomas added 10 each. Khaliq Spicer grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, but he struggled in the paint, shooting 1-for-6 from the field while missing several layups
3:38 ... The Flashes keep battling back, and a string of missed free throws by Loyola have kept hope alive.
The Loyola lead is 58-54. The Ramblers will have free throws coming again out of this timeout, though, after a whistle on what appeared to be a clean strip by Kellon Thomas.
Derek Jackson has been very good off of the Kent State bench, scoring a team-high 12 points to go with four rebounds.
The Flashes are shooting 52 percent from the field in the second half.
Jimmy Hall has 10 and is in double digits for a sixth consecutive game in a KSU uniform.
9:06 ... The two missed free throws by Doyle have led to a bit of a Loyola meltdown ... a traveling violation and some point-blank misses have led to some empty possessions.
Back-to-back threes by Jackson and Brewer have led a run that has cut the Ramblers lead to 50-45. Brewer's three was a contested shot from the right corner while Jackson's came from the top on a recycled offensive rebound by Spicer ... his 11th rebound of the night.
Officials also missed a mugging of Kris Brewer on a drive to the basket that could have allowed the Flashes to cut further into this lead.
11:40 ... Loyola has answered the run with a couple of threes. The Ramblers have kicked the lead back out to 13 at 50-37.
The momentum killer was an illegal screen whistled against Marquiez Lawrence when the Flashes had the ball and a chance to cut the lead to five. From there, Turk and Thomas hit back-to-back threes.
Doyle just missed a pair of free throws coming out of the timeout.
15:01 ... Marquiez Lawrence with great energy has led this comeback. His blocked shot out of the timeout of a jumper by Doyle set the stage on the other end for a three by Jackson at the top of the key.
Loyola lead has been trimmed to 42-35. The lead had been 20 with 2:08 to play in the first half.
A 13-2 run for KSU.
16:08 ... A fast start to the second half for the Flashes has forced Loyola to call timeout.
Loyola held off three second-half runs by Kent State.
The Flashes fell behind 40-22 in the first half behind 25.9 percent shooting from the field. For the night, they shot just 43.8 percent from the foul line and missed too many free throws late. Add in 13 turnovers and you have some numbers that are hard to overcome.
Christian Thomas was very good again against Kent State. The Loyola forward led all scorers with 16 points to go with seven rebounds. Montel James added 11 points and 8 rebounds. Devon Turk added 15 for the Ramblers and Jeff White scored 13 off of the Ramblers' bench.
Derek Jackson scored 15 to lead the Flashes. Jimmy Hall and Kellon Thomas added 10 each. Khaliq Spicer grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, but he struggled in the paint, shooting 1-for-6 from the field while missing several layups
3:38 ... The Flashes keep battling back, and a string of missed free throws by Loyola have kept hope alive.
The Loyola lead is 58-54. The Ramblers will have free throws coming again out of this timeout, though, after a whistle on what appeared to be a clean strip by Kellon Thomas.
Derek Jackson has been very good off of the Kent State bench, scoring a team-high 12 points to go with four rebounds.
The Flashes are shooting 52 percent from the field in the second half.
Jimmy Hall has 10 and is in double digits for a sixth consecutive game in a KSU uniform.
9:06 ... The two missed free throws by Doyle have led to a bit of a Loyola meltdown ... a traveling violation and some point-blank misses have led to some empty possessions.
Back-to-back threes by Jackson and Brewer have led a run that has cut the Ramblers lead to 50-45. Brewer's three was a contested shot from the right corner while Jackson's came from the top on a recycled offensive rebound by Spicer ... his 11th rebound of the night.
Officials also missed a mugging of Kris Brewer on a drive to the basket that could have allowed the Flashes to cut further into this lead.
11:40 ... Loyola has answered the run with a couple of threes. The Ramblers have kicked the lead back out to 13 at 50-37.
The momentum killer was an illegal screen whistled against Marquiez Lawrence when the Flashes had the ball and a chance to cut the lead to five. From there, Turk and Thomas hit back-to-back threes.
Doyle just missed a pair of free throws coming out of the timeout.
15:01 ... Marquiez Lawrence with great energy has led this comeback. His blocked shot out of the timeout of a jumper by Doyle set the stage on the other end for a three by Jackson at the top of the key.
Loyola lead has been trimmed to 42-35. The lead had been 20 with 2:08 to play in the first half.
A 13-2 run for KSU.
16:08 ... A fast start to the second half for the Flashes has forced Loyola to call timeout.
Jimmy Hall has a short jumper, Marquiez Lawrence an offensive rebound and a outback, Kris Brewer a driving layup, and just before this timeout Kellon Thomas hit a 15-footer after a steal by Derek Jackson.
Flashes within 10 at 42-32 and applying full court pressure.
FIRST HALF
HALFTIME
The Golden Flashes shot a miserable 28 percent from the field in the first half (7-of-25), including 3-of-9 from three-point range.
Loyola, meanwhile, shot 16-for-28 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc ... both 57.1 percent.
Christian Thomas has picked up where he left off in his sophomore season against Kent State, scoring 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a wide-open 15 footer just before the buzzer.
Leading scorer for KSU is Dev Manley, who has two threes for six points.
3:56 ... Loyola lead is 32-15 and Kent State trying to find some energy on the defensive end by trapping full court. Maybe a Derek Jackson block of a Devon Turk three on the left wing can help the cause heading into this timeout. The blocked shot led to a traveling violation after Loyola grabbed the loose ball.
Ramblers are shooting 59.1 percent from the floor (13-for-22) and 66.7 percent from three (4-for-6), while the Flashes are hitting at just a 28.6 percent clip (6-for-21).
7:55 ... The Flashes trail 22-12, but if there is some good news it is that they are starting to get Jimmy Hall the basketball in the post. Hall has four points with both layups coming in the last two minutes of action.
Derek Jackson scored earlier to surpass the 1,000-point milestone for his career.
11:32 ... A very poor start to the first half for Kent State on both ends of the floor.
Defensively, the rotations have been very late, leading to the early threes by Turk and just seconds ago an easy layup by Donte Ingram. The Flashes are shooting just 2-for-11 from the field offensively.
It all adds up to a 15-7 Loyola lead.
15:26 ... The Golden Flashes trail Loyola early 8-5 as the Ramblers have a pair of threes by Devon Turk from the left wing. On both shots the rotation was just a step late.
The Golden Flashes have been aggressive on the offensive boards, getting three shots on the first possession, but without a bucket.
Devareaux Manley opened the game with a three, which is a good sign after he struggled against Yale.
LINKS
PREGAME
Tonight's game is the last business remaining from the old BracketBuster. The Flashes beat Loyola in the finale of the event two years ago. These return games always saw the visiting team bring officials from their conference. That's the case again today as a Missouri Valley crew of Daniel Chrisman, Ed Crenshaw and Donnie Olson will work the game.
My guess is Kent State fans don’t quite know what to make of tonight’s game with Loyola Chicago at the M.A.C. Center. This is not an easy game in large part because of 6-foot-4 guard Milton Doyle, who is off to a great start to his sophomore season at 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting it at a 58.1-percent clip from the field and an even better 58.8-percent pace from three-point range.
Doyle is another nice early-season challenge for Derek Jackson on the defensive end. Look for Jackson to pressure Doyle for 40 minutes, contesting everything on the perimeter and trying to force him to drive. That doesn’t mean he dislikes attacking the rim. Doyle loves to get into the paint, but when he does Jackson will have some long-armed help from the likes of Khaliq Spicer, Jimmy Hall, Chris Ortiz and Marquiez Lawrence.
Loyola is a very good transition team. Led by Doyle, the Ramblers are also a very good three-point shooting team. More than 44 percent of their points come from beyond the arc, which is second in the country.The Ramblers apparent weakness is on the defensive end where their opponents’ effective field goal percentage is 58 percent. That ranks 325th in the nation. They are also doing a poor job of defending the arc, where opponents are shooting 42 percent. That number is 324th in the nation. Opponents also have a 2-to-1 offensive rebounding advantage on Loyola in the first four games this season, so look for Hall, Spicer and the rest of KSU’s bigs to hunt second-chance opportunities.
Loyola doesn't have a great deal of size. The tallest player on the entire roster is 6-foot-7 junior post Montel James. The starting lineup has all 6-foot-4 wings in Doyle, Devon Turk and Joe Crisman along with a physical 6-foot-5 four man in Christian Thomas. The Ramblers are capable from beyond the arc one-to-four.
Thomas had a career night two years ago against Kent State, scoring 30 in Loyola's BracketBuster loss.
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