ST. LOUIS - In a game of big momentum swings, the No. 20 Loyola Ramblers made one swing big enough to hold off the Drake University men's basketball team finally, 75-65, in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon.
 
Both Tremell Murphy and D.J. Wilkins scored 20 points for the Bulldogs (25-4) and Loyola's efficient effort on 59.1 percent shooting was too much for the shorthanded Bulldogs to overcome. The loss was just Drake's second against teams in Quad 1&2 of the NCAA NET rankings in eight games (6-2).
 
Joseph Yesufu added 12 points for the Bulldogs as he and Murphy were both named to the All-Tournament team for their stellar efforts at Arch Madness. Darnell Brodie, who drew the day's toughest assignment of going against MVC Player of the Year Cameron Krutwig, continued his strong play with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
"I thought Brodie really battled," said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. "Those two were going at it and Cam had some big plays down the stretch. We put a lot of pressure on Darnell to play 1-of-1 and that's a lot to ask, but he's done a phenomenal job all year for us."
 
Loyola (24-4) was led by 20 points from Krutwig and Braden Norris. Norris was 5-of-9 from the three-point arc, with many of them squelching Drake rallies as the Ramblers were a collective 10-of-17 from the arc.
 
Loyola took control of the game in the second half with a 12-2 run that stretched its lead to 53-37 with less than 12 minutes to play. But eight-straight points from Murphy and Yesufu drew the Bulldogs back within single digits at 56-48 with 7:30 left in the game. 
 
The Ramblers again went to their top two scorers in Krutwing and Norris to build up a 13-point cushion with three minutes to play that Drake was unable to erase, thanks in part to Loyola's staunch defense.
 
"They're terrific defensively, they make everything hard," DeVries said of Loyola's defense. "There's not a lot that you can pick on. You have to earn everything you get and they're one of the elite defensive teams we've played."
 
Those second-half runs mirrored a first half in which Loyola took a 10-point, 24-14 lead midway through the first half after a 9-2 run in which the Ramblers held the Bulldogs without a field goal for more than five minutes. However, the Bulldogs answered back with 10-straight points, capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Wilkins and Yesufu to tie the contest. 
 
But again, Loyola quickly blitzed the Bulldogs with runout baskets to score 7-straight points in less than a minute to reassert its lead and eventually take a 36-31 lead into the halftime break. Yesufu scored 10 of his points in the opening half before Loyola started to slow the explosive sophomore guard. 
 
The Bulldogs, who played their full-complement of 27 allotted regular-season games and finished the season with 25 wins, will await to hear their name called for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday. The team's 25 wins are the third-most in program history and 15 conference wins tied the school record.