NIT Results: BC Defeats Loyola, St. John's Defeats Cornell

Loyola College suffered a 90-57 loss at Boston College on Monday in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.  Loyola was out rebounded by a margin of 46-30 and was outplayed in every statistical category by a very young BC team.  BC starts one senior, star guard Tyrese Rice and four sophomores.

Loyola was led in scoring by sophomore guard Jamal Barney, a Providence transfer, who scored 18 points in 23 minutes and grabbed four rebounds.  Junior guard Brett Harvey scored 12 points and sophomore guard Brian Rudolph scored 11 points.  Loyola will need more points and rebounds from its forwards to compete at this level.

Boston College was led by Sophomore forward Joe Trapani, who scored 20 points while grabbing four rebounds.  Senior guard Tyrese Rice had six points and three rebounds.  Sophomore forward Corey Raji had 14 points and nine rebounds.

In the second eastern bracket opener in the NIT, St. John's defeated Cornell 86-75 at St. John's.  Next, Boston College will entertain St. John's at 7:30 tonight on ESPN2.  The winner of that game will be the eastern champion and will move on to Madison Square Garden to play the winner of the North Region.

In the northern bracket, Purdue, ranked numbers 10 and 11 in this week's major polls, defeated Eastern Michigan, 87-58.  Purdue will play Loyola (Il) which defeated Georgia, 74-53.  The winner of that game will play the winner of tonight's game between Boston College and St. John's University.

Two nationally ranked teams advanced in the South Region—Oklahoma ranked number 14 and 12 and Davidson ranked 21 in both major polls.  In the West, Arizona and UAB advanced.  The NIT semi-finals will be held at Madison Square Garden November 26 and the final on November 28.