No. 5 seed Saint Louis (19-14, 11-7 A-10) fell to No. 4 seed Loyola Chicago (22-10, 12-6 A-10) 72-64 in the Atlantic 10 Conference Quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Game Recap:
Loyola Chicago broke open a back-and-forth start with a 9-0 run, building a lead it never gave up. The Ramblers led by as many as 14 in the first half before heading into the break up 36-30.
Saint Louis continued to battle, cutting the deficit to a single possession multiple times. Isaiah Swope led the charge in the second half, scoring 19 of his game-high 30 points. He drilled back-to-back threes to pull SLU within two at 57-55 with 7:53 remaining.
Robbie Avila responded with five straight points to push the lead to 63-60, but Loyola Chicago answered with a key three-pointer at the 3:07 mark. The Ramblers then closed out the game at the free-throw line to secure the eight-point victory.
The Billikens season scoring leader, Gibson Jimerson fell cold on the afternoon going 2-of-7 from the field and 0-of-5 from deep.
Key Performers
Saint Louis:
Isaiah Swope led all scorers with 30 points (11-22 FG, 6-15 3PT), the most ever by a Billiken in an A-10 Championship game.
Robbie Avila added 12 points and six rebounds.
Kalu Anya contributed nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Loyola Chicago:
Des Watson paced the Ramblers with 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting.
Betting Recap:
Loyola Chicago covered the -1.5 spread while the total score went UNDER the 141.5 line.
Up Next:
With the loss, Saint Louis is eliminated from the A-10 Championship, while Loyola Chicago advances to the semifinals.