CHICAGO – Despite 18 and 17 points from DJ Horne and Dedric Boyd, the Illinois State Redbirds fell in the 2020-21 MVC opener to the Loyola Ramblers on Sunday afternoon by a 90-60 final score.
Horne made seven of his dozen shot attempts in the game, including 3-of-6 from long range, while also pulling down two rebounds with two assists. Boyd went 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, while also adding a game-high-tying two steals.
The teams battled for the first three minutes of the game, as the teams were tied at five before the Redbird offense stumbled and had a four-and-a-half minute scoreless stretch and Loyola increased its lead to six. A 7-0 run by the Ramblers pushed the margin to double-digits where it remained for the rest of the first half, as the Redbirds trailed 39-23 heading into the locker room at halftime.
A 21-2 Loyola run to start the second half pushed ISU's deficit to 34 four and a half minutes into the second half. The Loyola lead reached its pinnacle at 36 points with 9:48 to play in the game and cruised to the 30-point conference win.
Dusan Mahorcic pulled down a game-high eight rebounds while scoring four points, as Howard Fleming Jr., Horne, and Emon Washington all tied for the team lead with two assists.
Lucas Williamson scored a team-high 18 points for the Ramblers, as Cameron Krutwig scored 15 and Tom Welch 10. Loyola made 59.6 percent of its shots on the game (34-of-57), while converting on 12-of-26 shots from beyond the arc (46.2 percent).
The teams meet again tomorrow in the second of two games in the season series, with a 6 p.m. tip-off in Gentile Arena.
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