Loyola beats La Salle 64-54 to share Atlantic 10 title

Loyola capitalized on a big first-half run and held off a second-half La Salle rally, 64-54, Saturday at a sold-out Gentile Arena to give the Ramblers a share of the Atlantic 10 regular-season title a year later. finished in last place.

Dame Adelekun scored 12 points and 10 rebounds, Des Watson scored 11 points, and Miles Rubin and Braden Norris scored 10 points each to advance Loyola (23-8, 15-3) to the quarterfinals of the A-10 next week. Tournament. The Ramblers are seeded No. 2 and play St. Louis on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Barclays Center in New York. Bonaventure or La Salle-George Washington will play the winner.

“At the end of last year, there weren’t a lot of people who believed it was real, but people in the locker room did.” coach Drew Valentine he said, according to the Loyola Athletics website. “Whether they were recruits, freshmen, transfers or returners, they believed it was possible and it would happen.

“They did it. They had to be the ones who believed in what we were coaching. They had to be the ones to go out there and perform and play hard and with intensity. “This year was all about pride, being a part of this university and proudly representing Loyola Chicago basketball.”

With the game tied at 21, the Ramblers took a comfortable lead with a 12-0 run and took a 37-28 lead into halftime. La Salle took a three-point lead early in the second quarter, but Loyola held on. The Ramblers finished their first season in the Atlantic 10 in the 2022-23 season with 10-21 overall and 4-14 in the conference.

Ruben added six blocks, reaching a single-season program record of 72. He tied Andre Moore, who set the previous record of 66 blocks in 1984-85.

Jhamir Brickus led the Explorers (15-16, 6-12) with 11 points.