Ramblers Sweep CBI Championship Series
MONROE, La. – Loyola Chicago became just the second team in the eight-year history of the College Basketball Invitational to sweep the Championship Series, taking a 63-62 decision at Louisiana Monroe.
The win also marks the first national postseason tournament title for the Ramblers since defeating Cincinnati in the 1963 NCAA Championship.
For the second time in as many games, Loyola (24-13) shot better than 50 percent from the field, connecting on 24-of-44 (.545) of its shots. After shooting 51 percent on Monday, the Ramblers became the only team this year to make more than half their shots against the Warhawks.
Devon Turk had team-highs of 14 points and five rebounds to pace Loyola. Mike Doyle connected for 13 points and Tournament MVP Earl Peterson tallied 12 points.
With the game tied at 33-33 at the half, ULM went on a 13-5 run and held a 46-38 lead with 14:29 to play. Doyle’s layup at the 14:21 mark kick-started a 21-12 run over the next 10:41 seconds by the Ramblers which resulted in a 59-58 lead with 3:40 remaining which Loyola would not relinquish.
ULM (24-14) received 17 points from Majok Deng, 15 points and five boards from Tylor Ongwae, and 12 points from Nick Coppola. Justin Roberson registered eight points and a career-best eight assists.
Loyola Chicago’s win marks just the second time in the eight-year history of the CBI that a team has won the series in two games. The Ramblers join VCU (2010) in that select company. VCU would go on to play in the 2011 NCAA Final Four.
Thirteen of the 16 games of the 2015 CBI were decided by less than 10 points, a margin of victory of 7.4 ppg.
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