Ramblers rally past Rider in CBI first round

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Milton Doyle scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as Loyola rallied from a nine-point, second-half deficit to claim a 62-59 win over Rider in the opening round of the 2015 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) at Gentile Arena. The Ramblers (20-13) reach the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2006-07 season while the Broncs’ season ends with a 21-12 record.After a Montel James basket opened the scoring, Rider scored the next seven points to open up an early five-point lead. The Ramblers responded in thunderous fashion, rattling off the next eight points on four dunks and a Donte Ingram put-back capped a 13-3 run that gave the home team a 13-10 lead at the 12:27 mark. The next six combined baskets all came from downtown, four by Rider and two from LU’s Devon Turk, as the Broncs regained the lead. The visitors stayed hot from deep but a basket from Doyle and another Turk trey gave Loyola a 31-30 lead with 85 seconds left. However, Teddy Okereafor buried two from behind the arc, the second one coming in the waning seconds, to send Rider to the locker room with a 36-31 advantage. Loyola shot 50% overall in the period and received 14 first-half points from Turk but the Broncs were even better, hitting 10-of-14 (71%) from downtown in the half to compensate for a 3-for-11 (27%) effort from inside the line.Okereafor carried his hot shooting into the second half, capping a personal 10-0 run with a bucket and two free throws to give Rider a 40-31 lead with just under three minutes elapsed in the second half. Six straight points from Doyle pulled LU within three but Xavier Lundy hit his fifth triple of the game to extend the lead back to six. A Jimmie Taylor free throw gave the Broncs an eight-point lead (52-44) at the 8:10 mark before Loyola was finally able to get some defensive stops. Two free throws each from James and Doyle cut the deficit to four and, after a Lundy basket, Doyle scored in the paint and hit two more from the stripe to make it a 54-52 game at the 3:02 mark.Doyle gave the Ramblers their first lead since the late stages of the opening half with a bucket at the 1:56 mark but Okereafor answered with an elbow jumper to even the game at 56 with 1:29 left. Two more free throws gave the hosts the lead and Okereafor could only split a pair, leaving the Ramblers up by one (58-57) with 40 ticks left. Doyle and Taylor traded perfect, 2-for-2 trips to the line and Ben Richardson knocked in two more charity tosses to give LU a 62-59 lead with five seconds left. Loyola elected to foul and Okereafor missed the first of a two-shot, double-bonus foul. He attempt to intentionally miss the second free throw did not draw iron, giving Loyola the ball back with :01.5 left. However, a turnover on the inbounds gave Rider one last chance but Zedric Sadler’s long, contested three-pointer was long to send Loyola on to the next round.Doyle was terrific, finishing 5-of-7 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the stripe for his 22 points. He also added six assists and three rebounds. Turk finished with 14 points while Ingram added eight in 21 minutes off the bench. Lundy led Rider with 19 points.Loyola advances to take on the winner of tomorrow night’s UC-Santa Barbara/Oral Roberts game next Monday night (March 23)