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SPRINGFIELD – In just his second start of the season, Bears junior Demarcus Sharp scored a game-high 21 points, but Missouri State could not keep pace with a hot-shooting Loyola squad here Monday, falling to the visiting Ramblers, 70-50.
 
It marked the Bears fourth straight home loss after four games in seven days against Missouri Valley Conference frontrunners No. 25 Drake and Loyola.
 
Loyola (15-3, 10-1 MVC) was led by Cameron Krutwig's 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while Aher Uguak added 12 points for the Ramblers to help them to their eighth straight win.
 
Much like Sunday's contest, the Ramblers came out gunning, knocking down their first four 3-point attempts and a hook shot by Krutwig to take a 14-2 lead before the first media timeout.
 
Midway through the half, Missouri State (9-5, 5-5 MVC) used a 6-0 run, powered by Nic Tata, to get within 20-16. However, the Ramblers got scoring from four different players in a subsequent 15-4 sequence that pushed the visitors up by 15 four minutes before the intermission.
 
Sharp scored Missouri State's final eight points of the opening half, but Loyola – which shot 68.2 percent from the field in the first period -- ended the stanza on a 5-0 spurt to take a 42-26 lead into the intermission.
 
The second half proved to be a stalemate with the Bears holding their own against a Loyola team that finished the game with a 60.5 percent shooting effort (26-of-43). However, the home side was only able to cut into the halftime deficit once – a dunk by Tata to open the final period.
 
Isiaih Mosley and Sharp cut the MSU deficit to 17 two times apiece with Mosley's free throw at the 6:06 mark making it a 59-42 game. But as it did throughout the series, Loyola answered every Bears run with a dagger as Uguak and Krutwig scored down low on back-to-back possessions to push the visitors' lead back over 20.
 
For the game, MSU was 19-for-46 (.413) from the field and 0-of-12 from long range. It marked the first time since Jan. 7, 2011 that MSU did not make a 3-pointer. The Bears were also 12-for-16 (.750) at the foul-line and were out-rebounded by a narrow 24-23 margin
 
Loyola finished 8-of-13 (.615) from long range and 10-of-13 (.769) at the line with 13 turnovers.
 
The Bears look to get back on the winning track this weekend when they travel to Illinois State on Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) against the Redbirds (5-12, 2-9 MVC) in Normal.