Loyola Splits Day 2 At The Class B Western Divisional

The second day of action at the Class B Western Divisional Tournament in Ronan brought the top eight teams in the West against each other in dramatic fashion.

The Rams drew their conference rival Florence Falcons in the boy’s semi-final game and it turned out to be a game that would rank in the top of Rams versus Falcons games all time. In the opening quarter the two teams went at each other with tenacious vigor, but Florence super star Marcus Zeiler picked up where he left off the day before scoring six point in the paint to put the Falcons up 13-12 after one quarter. Zeiler led all scores at the break with 19 points to help Florence to a 29-21 score at the half.

Not having an answer for Zeiler in the first half Coach Stack made his adjustments and the Rams took off on the shoulders of Joey McElroy who scored eight in the third quarter to aid Loyola to 15-6 run to take a 36-35 led at the end of three. The fourth quarter would be another heavy dose of McElroy by the Rams, edging out the Falcons 53-45.

The Rams will play the Bigfork Vikings at 6:30 pm in the Championship match.

In the night cap game of the second day the Loyola Rams took on the Bigfork Valkyries, the top girls team in the Class B Western Division, and the Breakers gave a great fight in the first half. Loyola handled the Valkyries in the opening period to have a 10-8 lead. Loyola’s Sam Clevenger would be the star of the first half for the Breakers as she put up nine points, going three for three from the free throw line.

With a 23-18 lead at the start of the third quarter the Valkyries took flight and ran away from the Breakers as Loyola struggled from outside the arc, going 3-12 from three point land on the game. The Breakers tried make a comeback on the shoulders on Kylie Esh who found the three ball and went 2-4 in the fourth quarter, but Bigfork’s athleticism was to much for the Breakers to match and the Valkyries charged out to 62-49 win.

The Breakers will play the Eureka Lions Saturday morning at 10:40 for a chance to play in the Consolation game.