A driving layup by Jaylin Andrews with 2.7 seconds remaining gave Loyola its first lead of the game and accounted for the final points in a 69-67 win by the Greyhounds (7-12, 2-4) over the Navy (8-10, 1-5) men’s basketball team, Saturday evening at Reitz Arena in Baltimore.
“I’m really disappointed for our guys,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis. “I thought we played great in the first half and in the first five to seven minutes out of the locker room (in the second half). Then it was a combination of our not wanting to guard them, they got hot and made some three’s, we had some blown assignments. Couple that with not scoring and our missing free throws and turning the ball over at crunch time.
“We’re just not making plays when we need to make them to win the game. They made the play to win the game; baseline drive and the guy scored. We had the same opportunities but didn’t make the plays. Very frustrating.”
Navy held a lead of between four and nine points for the majority of the first half before taking a 36-29 lead at the break. The Mids had a great start to the second half and were able to extend their advantage out to 16 points at 48-32 a little more than three minutes into the stanza.
Loyola was 1-8 from three-point range in the first half, but a triple by Chris Kuzemka with 8:48 left to play was the team’s fifth of the second half and tied the game at 52-52.
Navy quickly answered with a field goal to break the tie, then held four-point leads at 56-52 (7:09) and 58-54 (6:03) before a Patrick Dorsey (Sr., Raleigh, N.C.) triple gave it a 65-59 lead with 2:57 remaining.
A Loyola three-point basket (65-62) was followed by Austin Inge (Jr., Greensboro, N.C.) getting fouled with 2:22 left to play. He missed the front end of the bonus, but Tyler Nelson (Sr., Monroe, N.C.) kept the ball in Navy’s hands with an offensive board. Nelson’s ensuing jumper from the lane missed the mark, and on the other end Loyola drained its eighth three-point basket of the half to tie the game with 1:42 showing on the clock.
Back came the Mids and Dorsey drained a jumper to give the Mids a 67-65 lead with 1:20 still to play. Kuzemka responded with a jumper of his own 20 seconds later to tie the game for the third time in the half and fourth time in the game.
The Mids brought the ball over halfcourt and Inge drove down the far left side of the floor. His pass intended for Sean Yoder (Sr., Dublin, Pa.) in the corner went out of bounds with 40 seconds still to play.
After Loyola inbounded the ball, Kuzemka missed a three-point shot with the rebound going out of bounds off of the Mids with 9.5 seconds remaining. The officials reviewed the play to confirm it, then first Loyola and then Navy called timeout.
When play resumed, the ball soon found its way into the hands of Andrews. He first retreated to the three-point line, then drove down the right side of the foul line where his scooping layup went in with 2.7 seconds left. Navy inbounded the ball to Inge and he was able to launch a clean shot from halfcourt that fell several feet short as the buzzer sounded.
Navy shot the ball better in the second half (52.2%) than the first (46.4%), but so too did Loyola (48% first half, 57.1% second half). The Greyhounds were 8-15 from three-point range after halftime in contrast to the 4-11 effort by the Mids.
Navy was able to get to the foul line more than usual, but was unable to regularly convert on those opportunities. The Mids were 9-17 from the charity stripe in the game, which included a 3-8 effort after halftime. Navy also missed the front end of the bonus twice in the second half. Conversely, Loyola was 4-5 from the foul line for the game.
Dorsey’s 18 points were a career high. Nelson reached double figures with 16 points and Daniel Deaver scored 11 points. Deaver led the Mids with both eight rebounds and three assists and Nelson snared seven caroms.
Navy will play host to Boston U. Wednesday night.