The game was tied with 13 seconds to go. It was 60-60 and Youngstown State had possession of the ball. Youngstown allowed the clock to wind down before Youngstown sophomore DJ Cole drove to the basket for the game-winning jump shot with three seconds remaining. Sophomore Joe Crisman managed to throw up a shot from the half court line with one second to go, but it didn’t come close to the rim and the Ramblers saw their season come to a grinding halt.
The game came down to the final 10 seconds, just as the previous two meetings between Youngstown State and Loyola have this season. And the outcome was the same as those two meetings: a Loyola loss.
Loyola’s men’s basketball season came to an end March 5 on the road. The men thought they had a chance to go deep into a playoff run, but their season ended in the first round of the Horizon League playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.
The game remained close throughout with Youngstown’s largest lead at eight points, and the Ramblers led by six. The teams were tied at 29 at halftime and they traded points early in the second half until the Ramblers pulled ahead by six points four minutes into the half.With 12 minutes left Youngstown came back to tie the game at 43. Youngstown State began to pull away after that to take the lead by seven points.
A three by freshman forward Matt O’Leary, a jump shot by freshman guard Jeff White, and a layup by sophomore forward Christian Thomas allowed the Ramblers to pull within one point 57-56 with one minute and 30 seconds remaining.
With 57 seconds to go, Loyola was down by three points and senior forward Ben Averkamp was fouled while attempting to shoot a three, so he had the opportunity to tie the game with free throws. Averkamp made the first two shots, but missed the third. On the other end of the floor, Averkamp committed a foul and Youngstown made one of two free throw attempts.
The score was now 60-58 with 25 seconds to go in the game and the Ramblers had possession of the ball.
Freshman guard Devon Turk was fouled and went to the line for the Ramblers. The young freshman made both of his free throws to tie the game at 60 with 13 seconds on the clock. But Youngstown State had possession of the ball, made the jumper and closed out the game 62-60.
Seniors Averkamp and Jordan Hicks closed out their careers as Ramblers with a 14 point, 9 rebound day and a 12 point performance respectively. Thomas ended the night with a team-high 16 points, while Whitetallied six points and a team-high five assists in 36 minutes.
The Ramblers’ bench outscored Youngtown State’s bench 21 points to zero.
While Loyola’s season is now over, Youngstown State will travel to Valparaiso Friday night to take on third-seeded Wright State in the second round of the Horizon League tournament.
By Emily Brown
ebrown10@luc.edu
Posted by Nick Amatangelo on March 6, 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Source:
http://www.loyolaphoenix.com/mens-basketball-falls-opening-horizon-league-tournament
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