ST. LOUIS — Donte Ingram had 13 points and eight rebounds, Marques Townes had 13 points and the game-clinching free throw with 2.3 seconds remaining and top-seeded Loyola held off ninth-seeded Northern Iowa 54-50 on Friday in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

Ingram’s layup with 57.7 seconds to go had the Ramblers (26-5), who have their most wins since the 1948-49 team went 26-9, up 51-43. A putback by Klint Carlson at 48.1 seconds and a 3-pointer from the right wing by Wyatt Lohaus after Loyola missed the front end of a one-and-one, made it 51-48 with 30 seconds left.

Loyola again missed a free throw but UNI missed a 3-pointer before freshman Lucas Williamson got his only points of the game with two free throws at 10.8 seconds. Tywhon Pickford scored on a putback for Northern Iowa before Townes iced it.

Loyola, on a season-best eight-game winning streak, faces fifth-seeded Bradley in the semifinals on Saturday.

Bennett Koch scored 20 points for Northern Iowa (16-16).

LOYOLA 54, NORTHERN IOWA 50

At St. Louis

N. IOWA (16-16) — Carlson 1-6 0-0 2, Koch 8-14 4-5 20, Brown 1-5 0-0 3, Rhodes 4-9 0-0 9, Pickford 2-6 0-0 4, Friedman 1-2 0-0 2, Haldeman 0-2 0-0 0, W.Lohaus 3-7 2-2 10. TOTALS 20-51 6-7 50.

LOYOLA (26-5) — Krutwig 4-7 0-0 8, Townes 6-12 1-2 13, Richardson 4-7 0-0 9, Custer 1-7 0-2 2, Ingram 5-7 0-0 13, Jackson 3-8 1-1 7, Williamson 0-4 2-2 2, Satterwhite 0-0 0-0 0, Skokna 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23-52 4-7 54.

Halftime–Loyola 25-21. 3-Point Goals–UNI 4-16 (W.Lohaus 2-4, Rhodes 1-3, Brown 1-4, Carlson 0-1, Haldeman 0-2, Pickford 0-2), Loyola 4-17 (Ingram 3-4, Richardson 1-3, Jackson 0-1, Custer 0-1, Townes 0-4, Williamson 0-4). Fouled Out–None. Rebounds–UNI 32 (Carlson 15), Loyola 23 (Ingram 8). Assists–UNI 11 (Brown 3), Loyola 14 (Richardson 6). Total Fouls–UNI 14, Loyola 8.