CBI 2015: Championship Game 2 Score and Twitter Reaction UL Monroe vs. Loyola

March is for madness and April is for championships in college basketball, and Loyola claimed the CBI title Wednesday night with a thrilling 63-62 victory over UL Monroe.

The Ramblers swept the best-of-three CBI championship series in two contests and won the decisive second one on the road in front of a hostile crowd.

Four different Loyola players finished in double figures, led by Devon Turk's 14 points on four made three-pointers and Milton Doyle's 13 points off the bench.

Majok Deng spearheaded the attack for UL Monroe with 17 points, while Justin Roberson finished with eight points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals in defeat.

The Loyola basketball team's official Twitter account certainly seemed thrilled with the championship:

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Loyola wasted little time establishing itself on the offensive side with the opportunity to claim the CBI title in two games. As The Catch and Shoot noted, the early shooting numbers were rather impressive, but UL Monroe tied the game at 33 by halftime by crashing the boards:

However, the Warhawks came out of the locker room with the hot hands in the second half and established an eight-point lead. UL Monroe athletics' official Twitter account noted that the crowd played a role in the spurt:

Tylor Ongwae was likely pleased with the crowd given his comments from earlier in the CBI, per Adam Hunsucker of The News Star: “We love playing at our place in front of our fans.”

Despite the hostile environment, Loyola cut the lead to 47-45 behind a surge of its own, and Turk made some program history in the process, as the team's official Twitter page pointed out:

For much of the second half, UL Monroe tried to create some separation from Loyola, but the Ramblers continued to answer basket-for-basket. The lead hovered between two and six points for a large portion of the second half, but the Ramblers finally took the lead with 3:40 left on a Doyle jumper.

It elicited a response from college basketball analyst Mark Adams:

The two teams traded free throws from there, and Loyola held a 63-60 lead with three seconds remaining.

UL Monroe had seemingly one last chance, but the Ramblers elected to foul the Warhawks and send them to the line in the final seconds for a one-and-one when they were down three.

Jamaal Samuel missed the first one, but Chinedu Amajoyi snuck in and scored a quick two on the offensive rebound to cut the lead to 63-62 with less than two seconds left.

Loyola missed its ensuing free throw with a second remaining, but UL Monroe could not get a final shot off as the buzzer rang.

Loyola completed the comeback and won the CBI championship, 63-62.

Despite the loss, UL Monroe appeared gracious in defeat:

What's Next?

Loyola will look to build on the momentum from this championship heading into next season.

The Ramblers were 24-13 during the 2014-15 campaign and came together at the end of the season behind a balanced offensive attack. If they can play like they did in the CBI all year in 2015-16, they could challenge for an NCAA tournament or at least NIT bid.

The Missouri Valley Conference is certainly one of the most difficult non-power conferences in the country with Northern Iowa and Wichita State atop the standings, but only Loyola won a postseason championship.