Nick Osborne scored a career-best 11 points in Loyola's 71-53 loss at Milwaukee
 
Nick Osborne scored a career-best 11 points in Loyola's 71-53 loss at Milwaukee
 
 
Milwaukee's Big Second Half Dooms Loyola In 71-53 Loss

Four Ramblers score in double figures but Panthers shoot 64 percent in second half

Feb. 12, 2013

Box Score

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Host Milwaukee (6-20, 2-10 Horizon) shot 64 percent in the second half and held Loyola University Chicago (13-12, 3-9 Horizon) to 24 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes as the Ramblers suffered a 71-53 loss at Klotsche Center tonight. Despite the setback, Loyola had a balanced attack with four players scoring double figures.

"We did a lot of things we wanted to do in the first half, but we weren't very good on the defensive end in the second half," Loyola head coach Porter Moser said. "We battled back in the second half but couldn't make free throws and just couldn't get over the hump."

Six Ramblers scored as Loyola opened up a 16-7 lead six and a half minutes into the contest, but after building its biggest lead of the night, the LU offense went cold. Despite weathering a seven-minute scoreless spell, the Ramblers found themselves down by only two, at 22-20, with 3:40 left in the half.

Loyola gathered itself and finished the first half with a flourish, outscoring Milwaukee, 7-0 the rest of the way, with Cully Payne's long three-pointer from the top of the key just before the buzzer sending the Ramblers into the locker room with a 27-22 lead.

After Jordan Hicks opened the second-half scoring with a layup to push Loyola's lead to seven, a jumper by Demetrius Harris ignited a 19-3 Panther run that gave the hosts a 41-32 lead and control of the game.

Devon Turk's three-pointer with 6:16 remaining got Loyola within 54-49, but Milwaukee would then rattle off 10 of the next 11 points to regain control and never looked back as Loyola dropped its fourth straight contest.

Hicks, who came into the game averaging 18.0 points in his last three games against Milwaukee, led the way for Loyola, which played without injured starters Ben Averkamp and Joe Crisman, with 12 points. Turk pitched in 11 points off the bench, while Nick Osborne matched Turk's output with a career-best 11 points of his own. Thomas narrowly missed a double double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Paris Gulley scored 21 points, hitting 13 of 16 attempts from the charity stripe, to lead Milwaukee.

Loyola returns to Rogers Park to open a three-game homestand this Saturday (Feb. 16) when it hosts UIC at 1 p.m.