DePaul Beats Loyola With Three-Pointer

A traveling call against Loyola Marymount opened the way for DePaul to pull out a 71-70 victory on guard Brandon Cole’s three-point shot with five seconds to play Saturday night at Gersten Pavilion.

With Loyola ahead, 70-68, with 33 seconds to play, Lion forward Zan Mason caught an inbounds pass in the backcourt and was called for traveling after being double-teamed.

DePaul (7-4) took over with 28 seconds remaining. After the Blue Demons twice had the ball knocked out of bounds, and after a missed shot by guard Terry Davis, Cole took an inbounds pass with 10 seconds left, dribbled to the left side above the key and made a three-point shot over two Loyola players.

Loyola (4-6), which had held DePaul scoreless for 4 minutes 14 seconds until Cole’s basket, had one more chance, but point guard Bill Mazurie missed a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer.

“I didn’t get a good look at it,” Loyola Coach John Olive said. “(The official) was right on top of the play. Obviously it was a crucial call in the contest.”

Loyola had rallied from a 64-56 deficit with 6:08 to play and took a 70-68 lead on a free throw by Mazurie with 1:37 left. Mason scored seven points and guard Rahim Harris had two steals during the stretch, as Loyola’s man-to-man defense forced DePaul into several turnovers and missed shots.

Sophomore forward Tom Kleinschmidt led DePaul with a game-high 23 points. Mason had 18 for Loyola.