College basketball: Thrilling buzzer beater lifts Loyola, NU and Illinois start 1-0
How the Bears pulled of a crazy last-minute win in Cincy | Chicago Sports Tonight
Fox 32's Lou Canellis breaks down the Bears' stunning 47-42 win on a big last-minute play over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Here's a roundup of college basketball scores from the opening night of action, including a thrilling buzzer beater to open Loyola's season.
Tavarez's buzzer-beater lifts Loyola on opening night
Deywilk Tavarez scored seven points in the final 18 seconds, including the winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, and Loyola Chicago outlasted Cleveland State 91-88 in a thrilling season opener on Monday night.
The dramatic win was the Ramblers' first game since the death of Sister Jean, their longtime chaplain who drew national attention for her devotion to the team during their Final Four run in 2018. Sister Jean died on Oct. 9. She was 106.
The Ramblers are wearing a uniform patch in her honor this season.
Tavarez, a transfer from College of Charleston, hit a 3-pointer and a free throw with 18 seconds left, giving the Ramblers an 88-86 lead. Dayan Nessah tied it with a layup for Cleveland State with 10 seconds left.
Loyola's Kayde Dotson missed a 3-pointer, but the Ramblers got the rebound and called time out with 2 seconds remaining. When play resumed, Tavarez took an inbound pass in front of the Ramblers bench and buried a 3-pointer for the win.
Tavarez, Dotson and Miles Rubin all scored 16 points for Loyola. Chuck Love III had 14 points and Joshua Ola-Joseph added 11.
Nessah scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Cleveland State. Josiah Harris scored 20 points, Tre Beard 13 and Kamari Jones 12.
Northwestern 70, Mercyhurst 47
Arrinten Page scored 18 points and Nick Martinelli added 17 points to lift Northwestern to a 70-47 rout over Mercyhurst on Monday in a season-opening matchup.
Page also grabbed 12 rebounds and added six assists in his debut for the Wildcats after stops at USC and Cincinnati. He is one of eight newcomers for Northwestern, their most since the 2019-20 season.
K.J. Windham added 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting (3-for-5 from 3-point range) off the bench as the only other player in double figures for Northwestern.
The Wildcats took a 36-25 lead into the half, and a 15-4 run to open the second half set the tempo for the rest of the game as they cruised to a comfortable win. They led for all but the first 17 seconds of game time.
Northwestern was a shaky 19-of-52 from the field and just 5-of-19 from 3-point range, but held Mercyhurst to 18-of-60 and 1-of-18 marks. They also out-rebounded the Lakers 49-32.
Jake Lemelman led the Lakers with 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Mykolaus Ivanauskas hauled in eight rebounds.
Illinois 113, Jackson State 55
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — David Mirkovic scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds on Monday night as No. 17 Illinois opened the season with a 113-55 win over Jackson State.
Mirkovic, a 6-foot-9 freshman forward from Montenegro, is one of four new international players on the Illinois roster this season.
Ben Humrichous and Tomislav Ivisic each had 21 points, Keaton Wagler had 18, and Jake Davis had 13 for Illinois, which was the highest scoring team in the Big Ten last year. Zvonimir Ivisic had nine rebounds.
Devin Ree scored 19 points and Daeshun Ruffin added 12 for the Tigers, who shot 30.6% from the field. Ruffin was the top scorer in the Southwestern Athletic Conference last season and the conference’s pre-season player of the year.
The Illini made 17 3-pointers and outrebounded Jackson State 61-19 despite missing four players with injuries — Brandon Lee, Andrej Stojakovic, Ty Rodgers and Mihailo Petrovic.
A 17-point run early in the game gave Illinois a 60-27 halftime lead. The Illini had 10 3-pointers in the first half.
Jackson State is playing nine of its first 10 games on the road. During the stretch, the Tigers will face seven teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season and five preseason Top 25 teams, including No. 2 Houston.
UIC 91, Detroit Mercy 71
Ahmad Henderson II's 23 points helped UIC defeat Detroit Mercy 91-71 in a season opener on Monday night.
Henderson shot 7 of 12 from the field, including 5 for 8 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the foul line for the Flames. Rashund Washington Jr. pitched in with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Elijah Crawford scored 13.
Ayden Carter led the Titans with 18 points. Keshawn Fisher had 12 points and Orlando Lovejoy scored 11.
Northern Illinois 102, UL-Monroe 82
Jao Ituka had 19 points off the bench, and Gustav Winther added 18 in Northern Illinois' 102-82 win against UL Monroe on Monday, in a season opener for both teams.
Ituka made four 3-pointers and went 6-of-11 shooting. Winther was 8-of-10 shooting, with 10 rebounds and a couple of blocks. Makhai Valentine had 16 points with 8 rebounds.
The Huskies took a 45-38 lead into the half, then broke the game open early in the second half with a 22-5 run.
The Warhawks were led by Krystian Lewis with 22 points and five assists. UL Monroe also got 16 points and two blocks from Przemek Hartman.
St. Bonaventure 69, Bradley 63
Darryl Simmons II scored 24 points as St. Bonaventure beat Bradley 69-63 on Monday in a season opener.
Simmons added five rebounds and three steals for the Bonnies. Cayden Charles scored 15 points and added eight rebounds and three steals. Frank Mitchell shot 5 of 11 from the field to finish with 12 points.
Jaquan Johnson, Demarion Burch and Alex Huibregtse each scored 13 points for Bradley.
Charles put up 14 points in the first half for St. Bonaventure, which led 34-26 at halftime.