Befitting a team that needed a victory and smelled an opportunity, Cleveland State came storming out Saturday against Loyola, building a nine-point lead before the Ramblers even had a chance to blink.
Loyola , however, recovered from its early doldrums to stop Cleveland State 81-75 at the Gentile Center.
“We’re down 11-2, and I was like, all right, when are we going to start playing because they’ll run you out of the gym if you don’t get going,” Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said.
Turned out not to be a problem.
The Ramblers (13-8, 5-6 Horizon League) shrugged off their early sluggishness to play tougher defense and shut down the Vikings’ transition game. Offensively, they simply blistered Cleveland State into submission, connecting on 55.4 percent of their shots, 47.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Loyola was led by Blake Schilb, who scored a game-high 27 points and added six assists.
“Maybe he has scored more points, but in terms of hitting big shots time and time again, [Schilb] was unbelievable,” Cleveland State coach Mike Garland said. “We just couldn’t overcome him hitting those shots with a hand in his face.”
Leon Young added 20 points and eight rebounds for the Ramblers, and Majak Kou had 17. Cleveland State (8-13, 4-7) was paced by Ije Nwankwo’s 20 points and J’Nathan Bullock’s 17.
Loyola spent much of the first half slowly chipping away at the Vikings’ early lead. Schilb moved the Ramblers into their first tie with a three-pointer from the left wing with about six minutes left in the half. And his three from the top of the key with five minutes remaining gave Loyola its first lead at 33-30.
The closest the Vikings got the rest of the way was a 44-44 tie on Bullock’s layup with 14:15 left in the game.
“It seemed every time we got an opportunity to get close, [Schilb] stepped up,” Garland said. “He’s tough to handle.”
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apatel@tribune.com
