Loyola received a bonus home game this season on Wednesday, courtesy of their run through the National Invitation Tournament, and the Ramblers once again didn’t disappoint at Gentile Arena in front of a crowd of 3,554.
The Ramblers led Kent State by as many as 19 points in the second half of an NIT quarterfinal en route to a 72-62 victory.
The Ramblers (25-11) advance to play Chattanooga in the NIT semifinal on Tuesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Chattanooga beat Bradley 67-65 on Tuesday. The NIT championship is set for April 3, also at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
“The energy in the arena was through the roof,” Loyola coach Drew Valentine said. “Obviously our students, when they show up, they’re awesome. The entire crowd, the excitement, how happy everybody was, the smiles on everybody’s faces. When we get to win games, it does so much for our community, and that’s what tonight felt like, a community win in a lot of ways.”
The Ramblers improved to 17-1 at Gentile Arena this season — their only home loss this season to Atlantic 10 champion VCU — and 32-3 at home over the last two seasons. After fans chanted “LUC” at the conclusion of the victory, players slapped hands with people in the student section, and Valentine threw out T-shirts.
About the only thing missing was Loyola team chaplain and superfan Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, a star in the Ramblers’ NCAA Tournament runs in 2018 and 2021. A Loyola official said she was not feeling well and watched the game from home.
Despite the home atmosphere, Valentine wasn’t entirely happy with the energy of his players in the first half.
He thought his players looked stoic and needed to play with more emotion after going into halftime with a 37-33 lead. Valentine had shown his players clips of their body language in a previous victory over San Jose State in the NIT first round, when they were “just kind of floating,” and he reminded them of that in the locker room.
“Drew came into the halftime locker room telling us they wanted it more than us,” junior guard Jayden Dawson said. “Kind of taking that personal, playing with an edge, and we went on that huge run to start the second half.”
The Ramblers went on a 9-2 run to open the second half to extend their lead to 11 points. Jalen Quinn and Dawson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to punctuate the spurt. When Sheldon Edwards Jr. hit a 3-pointer on a fast break — pausing with his arm in the air on the follow-through — for a 55-41 lead, the Ramblers looked in control.
“Shel hits big-time shots like that all the time,” Dawson said. “He always comes in clutch. He’s been our closer all year, so we’re used to him hitting those big-time shots.”
Kent State (24-12) threatened to make it interesting with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to nine points with 3 minutes, 22 seconds to play. But sophomore center Miles Rubin, a Simeon grad, helped the Ramblers put the game away.
He made a layup on an assist from Dawson, also drew a foul and made the free throw. He got a defensive rebound on the other end and then had a rebound and basket on the offensive side to push Loyola’s lead back to 14 points.
“We allowed (Rubin) to catch the ball on rolls right at the basket,” Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said. “We did cut it to nine. We needed a stop there, and he caught a roll layup and one. That possession, we needed to get a stop. We didn’t do what we needed to do defensively, but give them credit because they executed. He’s great at getting to the rim, he’s quick off his feet, and he’s a good finisher at the basket.”
Photos: Loyola 72, Kent State 62 in NIT quarterfinals
Rubin, who had 10 points in the first half, finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Dawson scored 13, and Edwards had 12 points and five assists.
“He’s a freak athlete,” Dawson said of Rubin. “We always expect him to play like this, so it was huge for us, per usual.”
Senderoff complimented the Ramblers on “an awesome, awesome college basketball environment.” Now unseeded Loyola, which knocked off No. 4 seed San Jose State and No. 1 seed San Francisco on the road in the first two rounds, is two wins away from an NIT championship.
Valentine said the trip to Indianapolis is important for his players to continue their bonding. He thinks they can raise their personal profiles by putting together big performances in the nationally televised games.
But he believes the trip also has meaning for the team as a whole.
“For me, I think it’s a statement about our program and where we’re at as a program, being a consistent winner,” Valentine said. “Obviously this year, I really truly believe — and I think you’re even seeing it now — that we were an NCAA Tournament team. We went through a rough patch. But this group is one we’re proud of and everybody should be proud of.”