Loyola hammers SIU 75-50

CHICAGO, Ill. – Loyola went on a 35-7 run to close the first half and run away from Southern Illinois, 75-50, on Sunday afternoon at Gentile Arena.

Marcus Bartley hit a 3-pointers to give SIU a 12-7 lead eight minutes into the game. After that, the Salukis went cold, going 2-for-14 with four turnovers the rest of the half. Loyola, on the other hand, couldn’t miss, and scored 35 points in the last 12 minutes of the half.

“We let our offense dictate our defense,” SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. “That’s happened several times to us this year, and we have to get out of that mode. We started feeling sorry for ourselves. Everyone tried to go win the game on their own, and we were a 1-on-1 dribble offense. We don’t do that. Once we got out of character offensively, it really affected us.”

A game removed from a 21-point comeback win against UNI, SIU (10-11, 3-5 MVC) came out after halftime with a similar edge, scoring 18 points in the half’s opening seven minutes. Unlike the UNI game, in which Southern held UNI scoreless for the first eight minutes of that half, Loyola (13-8, 6-2 MVC) was already rolling offensively and was able to keep a comfortable margin. SIU never got closer than 17 points.

Loyola center Cameron Krutwig dominated the game, scoring 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Loyola outscored SIU 40-to-10 in the paint and went 18-for-25 on layups and dunks, compared to SIU’s 4-for-12 mark on those shots.

“He was the best player in the game tonight,” Hinson said. “Krutwig was the reason this game took place the was it did.”

SIU committed 19 turnovers, leading to 17 Loyola points, and was outrebounded by seven in the loss. Loyola shot 59.6 percent from the field, the highest mark of any opponent against the Salukis this season. The Ramblers, coming off a Final Four berth last season, moved into sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference race.

“On the road, you can’t turn it over, you have to play great defense, and you have to rebound the basketball. We went 0-for-3 in those tonight,” Hinson said.

Sean Lloyd Jr. (11 points) and Armon Fletcher (12 points) led SIU.

The Salukis return to SIU Arena for an 8 p.m. game against Indiana State on Wednesday for the annual Black Out Cancer game.

“This breaks my heart ot say this, but we’re a one-bid league,” Hinson said. “So it doesn’t matter what happens in the regular season, you have to find yourself playing great in February and win three games in a row (at Arch Madness).”