Kucera's blitz leads Loyola past Wolfpack

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Brian Kucera had a dream quarter that turned into a nightmare for St. Ignatius.

“I was feeling it and my teammates did a great job of finding me,” said the Loyola senior guard.

He scored 11 of his career-best 22 points in the third quarter to help Loyola build a significant lead as the Ramblers stunned No. 19 St. Ignatius 54-50 to claim the Jesuit Cup at the Gentile Center at Loyola University Friday night.

Kucera drilled three three-pointers as part of his personal run to fuel a 15-3 Rambler burst that extended their narrow 22-19 halftime advantage to 37-22.

“I was open and I was just letting it fly,” he said.

Behind the fourth-quarter scoring of senior guard Dan Fahey (13 points), St. Ignatius (10-4, 1-1 Catholic North) opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 burst to pull within 42-36 off of Joe Bulliner’s steal and layup.

Loyola (10-5, 2-0) responded with consecutive layups by Rob Wennington (10 points, seven rebounds) and Lawson Thalmann to maintain its double-digit lead. Kucera converted 4-of-4 free throws in the closing seconds.

Jack Fischer contributed 12 points and Mario Knezovic added nine points for the Wolfpack.