Loyola ambles past Stevenson
It wasn't a thing of beauty for the Loyola ramblers, but then again coach Tom Livatino figures that this is the style of game his Ramblers team will usually win.
“We are not a pretty team,” Livatino said. “We win games ugly sometimes, but that is the way that this team is going to be.”
In the first game of the 33rd Wheeling Hardwood Classic, the Ramblers were just pretty enough to hold off a feisty bunch of Patriots from Stevenson. Two free throws from Michael Lang with 3.9 seconds left gave Loyola (5-5) the edge they needed to upend Stevenson 37-36.
Next up for Loyola is a 3:45 p.m. battle on Tuesday with Libertyville, a 60-29 winner over Deerfield. Stevenson will face Deerfield in the consolation bracket at 10:30 a.m.
“I think the one thing we did really well today was close out the game,” Livatino said.
The Ramblers did close out Stevenson (3-7) thanks in large part to the second-half play by Lang and David McCoy.
Lang erupted in the third quarter for 9 of his game-best 19 points to lift the Ramblers to a 25-21 advantage after three quarters. With neither team able to muster much offense, Lang scored almost as many points in the quarter (9) as the Ramblers did in the first half (12). McCoy was equally impressive, scoring 6 of his 9 points after halftime.
“This was just a 9 a.m. game to forget,” said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose. “The game was painfully slow at times. This wasn't a game with 24 turnovers or anything like that, but you also have to give Loyola credit too.”
Loyola took the lead for good on a putback by Lang with 1:48 to play at 33-31. The Ramblers then scored the next three straight possessions, all from the foul line, to build a 37-31 advantage.
A long 3-pointer by Michael Fleming brought Stevenson within 1 point as the buzzer sounded.
“In the end we just had to many mistakes,” Ambrose said. “We would have a dropped pass or a foul or a moving screen — something would go wrong for us.”
Fleming was best for the Patriots, scoring 13 points. Tyler Radtke added 5 points, including a bucket with 3:24 to go which gave the Patriots their last lead at 30-29.