SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Ramblers led early and often against Missouri State.
Loyola-Chicago picked up its first win in Springfield since 2016 with a convincing 72-46 win on Sunday.
Cameron Krutwig scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Ramblers (14-3, 9-1).
They started the game with a quick 8-0 run and before Missouri State (9-4, 5-4) knew it, the lead had grown to 22-2.
The lead would grow to 29 with 90 seconds to play in the first half, the largest of the game.
“The only way you beat a good team is to play a full 40. Right? You play an average team, you can play 25 minutes. That’s the bottom line,” Bears head coach Dana ford said. “These are really good teams and in order to beat them, you have to play 40 minutes. It’s just that simple.”
For the Bears, its a frustrating third loss in a row, after getting nine wins in their first ten games.
A portion of that comes from the increase in opponent quality, facing the top two teams in the Valley in back-to-back weeks.
“These teams are good. You look at their NET rankings, they’re good. You look at the rest of us, we’re kind of close. You have to play a complete basketball game. You can’t play half the game or just three quarters of the game. It’s just that simple. They’re just good basketball teams.”
Keaton Hervey scored a team-high nine points for Missouri State. Isiaih Mosley and Demarcus Sharp each scored eight points.
The Bears will close out the series against Loyola on Monday in Springfield.
