The Loyola Ramblers (12-6, 4-1 A10) eeked out a 79-78 win to defeat the UMass Minutemen (11-6, 2-3 A10) at Gentile Arena on Wednesday night.
The first half saw an offensive track-meet between both clubs. Loyola went up by as many as 11 before the Minutemen came back to cut the lead to 43-40 at the break.
The second half could not have been any different from the first: A war of attrition.
A grand total of 47 free throws were shot in the second half, and Ted Valentine’s crew blew the whistle 24 whistles for each team on the night.
The Ramblers began shooting 1-and-1s with nearly 12 and a half minutes remaining in the game and 15 of their 36 second-half points came from the charity stripe. They needed every one of those to hit nylon, as they faced spells of two, three, and four minutes without a basket.
As it became more physical, head coach Drew Valentine said he had one key message to his players: “next play.”
“Even if you’re having fouls, we do it in practice, you gotta find a way to execute mentally on the next play, and physically,” he said.
Back and forth went the game, with 7 ties and 13 lead changes. Ultimately, it was senior forward Philip Alston who made the grade.
His third-chance, tip-in basket – and subsequent and-one opportunity – sent the fans into a frenzy with just 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock.
Alston had been sitting with four fouls for a significant portion of the final stretch, but he made the most of his time on the court. He scored 23 points – including the Ramblers’ final eight.
When asked about his performance in the post-game press conference, Alston said, “it feels amazing.”
“I feel like these are the games that are really going to count later on in March and stuff, and I’m just really excited about this group,” he added.
The Minutemen were without senior forward Matt Cross (ankle/mouth) available for the contest, but head coach Frank Martin rode two strong performances from senior forward Josh Cohen and freshman guard Jaylen Curry. Cohen led all scorers with 28 and Curry had a career-high 18 points off of the bench.
“Gotta give [Frank Martin] credit without Matt Cross, he’s obviously one of the best players in the league, for them to do what they did versus us,” Valentine said. “But I gotta give our guys credit because they’re really not breaking regardless of what’s going on.”
With the win, the Ramblers have now matched their entire conference win total from the 2022-23 season through just five games. Alston said he is eager to keep writing a new narrative in Rogers Park as the season progresses.
“We just had a bitter taste in our mouth from last season, so that was basically our biggest goal this year, harping on ‘this is our revenge story’ and ‘this is not the same team,’” he said.
The Ramblers now sit in third place in the Atlantic 10 and will travel to the Bronx for a tilt at Rose Hill against the Fordham Rams (8-9, 2-2 A10). Tip-off is set for Noon central on Saturday afternoon.
