Ramblers’ miracle run ends in heartbreak: Michigan beats Loyola 69-57

SAN ANTONIO — With 13.1 seconds left Saturday, Loyola guard Clayton Custer fouled Michigan’s Duncan Robinson. He put his hands on his hips and dropped his head. He knew it was over.

The Ramblers’ improbable NCAA Tournament run came to a heartbreaking end in a 69-57 loss to the Wolverines at the Alamodome. The defeat snapped Loyola’s 14-game winning streak.

But the Ramblers, who finished the winningest season in their history at 32-6, won’t be remembered for their painful defeat. Instead, they will be remembered for how they provided some positivity in a scandal-ridden season for college basketball.

Loyola proved it didn’t reach the Final Four by luck or divine intervention. The Ramblers made it by being well-coached and well-prepared and by playing unselfishly on both ends of the court. That’s exactly how Loyola played against Michigan.

In the end, though, Moritz Wagner and Charles Matthews proved too much for the Ramblers to handle. Wagner scored a game-high 24 points and Matthews 17.

Wagner stabbed a dagger into Loyola’s back by making a three-pointer with just less than three minutes left, then putting up three fingers while looking at the Ramblers’ student section. Matthews twisted that dagger when he threw down a breakaway dunk to give Michigan a 10-point lead with less than two minutes left.

Loyola kept it close until late in the second half and remained resilient, which is how senior guard Donte Ingram said he’ll remember this team.

‘‘[I’ll remember] just how connected this team was, you know, how much of a family we were, how well we played together,’’ Ingram said. ‘‘We all believed in each other. Things didn’t go the way we wanted them to, [but] we’re family, and I am happy to be in this position with these guys.’’

The Ramblers didn’t play their best game, thanks in part to the Wolverines’ defense. They went 1-for-10 from three-point range, a rarity for a team that shot 40 percent from there this season.

Michigan held Loyola’s two leading scorers, Ingram and Custer, to two points apiece in the first half. Ingram’s only points of the game came on a buzzer-beating jumper that gave the Ramblers a 29-22 lead at the half.

Loyola started the second half strong. On its first possession, freshman big man Cameron Krutwig made a jumper and drew a foul from Wagner. While lying on the court, Krutwig pumped his arms and cheered the official’s call. Krutwig, who scored a team-high 17 points, sank the ensuing free throw to give the Ramblers a 32-22 lead.

Custer also showed some spark in the second half. He finished with 15 points and shot 5-for-9 from the field.

At the end of the game, Loyola coach Porter Moser met with the team in the locker room and tried to strike a positive note in a difficult time.

‘‘I said to them: ‘The more you invest in something, the harder it is to give up,’ ’’ Moser said. ‘‘And they didn’t want it to end. And they have so much to be proud of.

‘‘They changed the perception of a program. . . . When you say ‘Loyola-Chicago’ for men’s basketball, they changed that, the perception of it. They impacted so many lives, starting with our campus, then it spread [because of] high-character kids playing their tails off unselfishly.’’