Freeland scores 16 as DePaul defeats Loyola 81-74

Tony Freeland scored 16 points off the bench as DePaul pulled away in the second half Saturday for an 81-74 victory over Loyola of Chicago.

Geoff McCammon scored a career-high 31 points for Loyola (8-4), which has lost four of its last five after winning its first seven games.

McCammon scored six points during an 8-0 run to get the Ramblers within 43-42, but the Blue Demons (5-6) scored 11 of the next 13 points to take control for good. Freeland had two baskets and a pair of free throws in the run. Then, with the shot clock winding down, 6-foot-10 center Krys Faber hit a 3-pointer to give DePaul a 54-44 lead with 10:09 remaining.

"The ball was in my hand, they said shoot," Faber said. "That's pretty much all I can say about that."

The Blue Demons' press took a toll on Loyola, especially in the second half, and helped force 20 turnovers by the Ramblers.

"I thought they got a little bit tired," said DePaul coach Oliver Purnell. "Obviously they hit some jump shots early, but I thought in the meat of the game their legs wore down and they missed some jump shots that maybe they would normally make, so I thought our pressure really wore on them."

Cleveland Melvin and Mike Stovall had 13 points each for DePaul, which shot 55 percent from the field. Jeremiah Kelly added 12 points, and Brandon Young had eight points and nine assists. Faber had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Ben Averkamp had 17 points and eight rebounds for Loyola, which lost to its city rival for the 10th straight time.

McCammon scored 12 of Loyola's first 14 points to start the game. The Ramblers led for much of the half before Kelly made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give DePaul a 32-30 halftime lead. Kelly had nine points in the first half.

After two layups by McCammon put Loyola on top 34-33 early in the second half, Young's layup with 17:43 remaining gave DePaul the lead for good. Melvin added a basket, then a steal and found Young for another layup to extend DePaul's lead to 43-34 with 15:56 left in the game.

Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said the Blue Demons "just beat us to the punch."

"Their press bothered us. We just weren't able to run a lot of the things we wanted to run."