Aric Van Weelden hit the game-winner for the Ramblers on Friday night.
Tonight Loyola traveled to Worcester, MA to take on Holy Cross in a game that was certainly going to be a difficult test for Jim Whitesell's young Ramblers squad. I decided to relive some of my youth and listen to the game on the radio. Boy am I glad I did.
The Ramblers came back from being down 8 points in the final minute to pull out a 76-73 victory on Aric Van Weelden's three-pointer at the buzzer. The victory moves Loyola to 2-1 on the young season.
I wasn't always confident as I listened to John Fitzgerald's play-by-play. Loyola trailed for almost the entire game. Three Ramblers got into early foul trouble and Loyola seemed to be constantly climbing uphill.
With about two minutes remaining, I sent this ill-fated Tweet. 139 completely incorrect characters, "It was a good fight, but #Loyola is going to fall at Holy Cross. Nice job Ramblers, the game was closer than the final score will indicate."
Apparently this young Ramblers squad doesn't understand what it means to quit. Terrance Hill knocked down a three-point shot with 20 left to tie the game and then after a steal Van Weelden got the chance to attempt his shot.
Holy Cross has only itself to blame for the loss. The Crusaders missed four clutch free throws down the stretch that could've sealed the game.
Courtney Stanley had another great game with 10 points and 11 assists in 37 minutes. Walt Gibler (17 points, 8 rebounds), Marcus Thomas (16 points, 5-7 from three-point range) and Van Weelden (13 points, 3-3 from three-point range) each once again came off the bench to give the Ramblers big scoring boosts. It appears that Whitesell has found his winning formula.
Even though the radio was now an iTunes stream of WLUW-FM Chicago instead of a tiny radio clock, and I was sitting in my apartment instead of on the floor of my parents bedroom; the radio was still grainy at times, but the game was as vivid as ever.
Note: Full box score at BBState.
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