Hicks shoots Loyola past stunned Butler
INDIANAPOLIS - The more Jordan Hicks plays, the better he gets.
The freshman scored a career-high 23 points, and Loyola snapped a six-game losing streak with a 71-67 victory over No. 15 Butler on Sunday.
"My jump shot was really on. I felt like anything I put up was going in, and I felt if I cut to the basket my teammates would find me, and that's what happened," said Hicks, who added a career-best 8 rebounds.
Starting only his seventh game and averaging just 2.9 points, Hicks set a career high for the second time in a week, following 14 points Tuesday against Wright State.
He had a team-high 11 points in Friday's blowout loss at Valparaiso, a total he topped midway through the second half against the Bulldogs.
"We knew he'd been playing better the last couple games," said Butler's Matt Howard, who hit a career high with 30 points. "We knew we couldn't let him go. Coach specifically told us `Don't let him get going, don't let him get going, Once he gets going, he's a rhythm guy.' We let him get going. That's as simple as it was."
The Ramblers (13-15, 5-11 Horizon League) notched their first win over a ranked opponent since a 75-71 victory at Butler two years ago. The loss prevented the Bulldogs (22-3, 13-2) from clinching at least a share of their third straight regular-season conference championship.
Loyola took advantage of Butler's early poor shooting and repeated turnovers and built a 34-16 lead with under two minutes left in the first half, the Bulldogs' biggest deficit all season.
Howard led a comeback that brought the Bulldogs within 69-67 with 31 seconds left, but Justin Cerasoli (17 points) hit 2 free throws with four seconds remaining to seal the win.
"It's never easy to play Butler, especially after a disappointing game (at Valparaiso) Friday night," said Loyola coach Jim Whitesell, whose Ramblers lost 78-55 to Butler in their first meeting this season. "But Butler was a little off, and we needed to have that. When we got to the eight-minute mark in the first half and we had the lead, that was a good sign for us."