CHICAGO, Ill. – Led by a career-high 32 points from Marques Townes and a 14-0 first-half run, the Loyola Ramblers defeated the Drake University men's basketball team, 86-64, Tuesday evening at Gentile Arena.
 
Loyola (15-9, 7-3 MVC) scored a season-high 86 points on 71.4 percent shooting from three-point range to remain on top of the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
 
"Obviously tonight was a tough night for us," said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. "We got off to a great start, but Loyola, especially Townes, was a lot for us tonight. He played like an all-league, Player of the Year type guy and we weren't able to get him slowed down."
 
Drake (17-7, 6-5 MVC) was led by 18 points from Brady Ellingson (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) on a 6-of-8 night shooting from the three-point arc. Noah Thomas (Sydney, Australia) added 16 points and five assists. As a team, Drake shot 45.1 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from three-point range but could not slow down the Ramblers despite pulling within nine points late in the second half.
 
"I'm proud of the guys in the second half, we fought back and gave ourselves a chance but lost it again in a 2-3 minute strech," DeVries added.
 
Ellingson hit on three-pointers in two of the Bulldogs' first three possessions of the game followed by a Thomas three-pointer to give Drake an early 9-2 lead less than three minutes into the game.
 
However, Loyola answered with a 14-5 run to take a 19-17 lead midway through the half before assembling the 14-0 run that kept Drake off the board for six minutes and gave the Ramblers firm control of the contest at 48-32 heading into halftime. 
 
Loyola's Townes scored five of his 21 first-half points during that 14-0 run en route to his career high.
 
Turnovers helped fuel that Rambler run as Drake committed nine first-half turnovers that Loyola scored 16 points off of.
 
The halftime break did not slow the Ramblers as they opened the second half with six-straight points to take a 22-point lead three minutes into the half. Undeterred by the deficit, Drake engineered a 13-2 run capped by back-to-back-to-back Ellingson three-pointers to trim Loyola's lead to nine, 59-50, with less than 11 minutes left in the contest.
 
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that momentum was short-lived as Loyola's Cameron Krutwig scored four points as part of a 9-2 Loyola run that stretched the Ramblers lead back out to double-digits where it remained until the final horn. Krutwig finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.
 
Drake aims to rebound with a return to the Knapp Center Saturday for the program's annual 'Legends Weekend' honoring former players and teams. Special recognition will be given to the Bulldogs 1969 Final Four team on the 50th anniversary of their historic season. 
 
The game, versus UNI, is scheduled for 5 p.m. tipoff of Fox Sports Midwest and other MVCTV affiliates.