On Nov. 11, Loyola men’s basketball played the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders at Reitz Arena. The game was their third match of the season and followed the decisive 96-60 home opener victory against Penn State Abington the week prior. The Highlanders, however, would quickly make it clear that a win against them would demand a constant struggle with little room for error.
The Greyhounds opened the first half swinging, with an energy the Highlanders matched, cutting away at Loyola’s early first-period lead until the game was neck and neck. In the second half, despite a hard-fought back-and-forth game, NJIT managed to eke out a 66-64 win with a floater at the buzzer, very solid finishing, and highly effective foul drawing.
By the nature of the game-ender, there is no question that the victory was anyone’s to take. Taking a look at the night closely drives this home even more. Loyola opened the night with a 4-0 lead made possible by a strong defense. NJIT bounced back with five points of their own, refusing to be put down easily. Perfectly characterizing the night, the next basket was a three-pointer by guard Jordan Stiemke ‘27, a feat the Highlanders’ guard Jeremy Clayville immediately reciprocated the very next goal.
By the middle of the first half, Loyola had a good lead at 20-15. The two teams then entered a struggle with neither budging on defense for a period, though this was ultimately ended by another three-pointer from NJIT under the eight minute mark. Forward Jonas Sirtautas ‘27 kept the energy up with a dunk right after, and the Greyhounds and Highlanders traded basket after basket for the rest of the first half, where, despite Loyola keeping the lead for longer, NJIT ended up ahead. Loyola trailed 27-29 at the end of the first half.
Being down until the end made it clear that Loyola taking their foot off the gas for even a moment could make an immediate and game-changing difference against their favor.
The hard stats show both teams excelled in their unique ways. Loyola took rebounds 22-14 and field goal percentage 40%-37%. On the flip side, NJIT broke away with a 30.8% three-pointer percentage to Loyola’s 8.3%. They also sported a higher free-throw percentage of 83.3% to Loyola’s 40%.
It wasn’t just a matter of not slowing down; the winner would have to pick up the heat if they wanted to snuff out their competition in this game.
The test of will and endurance began as the Greyhounds and the Highlanders entered a back-and-forth, trading baskets left and right. Three pointers flew all period, with guard Troy Cicero Jr. ‘27 leading Loyola with three, and guards Sebastien Emenalo ‘29, Tyson Commander ‘26, and Jordan Stiemke ‘27 each making one. For NJIT, Clayville made four, and guard Rocco Awad made one. Despite literally being knocked down with a monster block by Sirtautas, NJIT’s guard Ari Fulton refused to stay down and led his team in field goals with six, free throws with 10, and rebounds with 14, the highest individual free throw and rebound count of the night.
It was this tenacity that kept the Highlanders sharp throughout the game, knocking down free throws with more consistency and catching up to Loyola with rebounds when they could not get far ahead with field goals and threes. This refusal to gas out allowed NJIT to endure and ultimately beat out the Greyhounds with a buzzer beater.
The match came as close as it possibly could, naturally it stung for the Greyhounds. On the final moments in the game that decided it all, Loyola guard Braeden Speed ‘28 had a few things to say.
“We didn’t rebound well at the end, but I thought we fought pretty well. I thought I got a good shot but I rushed it a little bit. There was good defense there by Sam there, too. It was just a good shot,” Speed said.
Looking at the results and what did the Greyhounds in as a whole, consistency was a topic touched on by Loyola Men’s Basketball Head Coach Josh Loeffler when discussing the outcome.
“Well, I mean, we missed a lot of free throws and threes, and we missed a lot of layups… I thought they did a really nice job of drawing fouls, and we’re gonna have to find a solution for that… I think they played really tough the whole game, but especially the second half, and that ended up biting us,” Loeffler said.
Despite the tough loss, the Greyhounds are keeping their heads up, making sure they learn from this loss and use it to get even better, a sentiment shared by Speed.
“It’s [the] third game of the year. We got a long way to go. We got better as the season went. We wanna be our best in March, so every game win or lose we’ll just build into that,” Speed said.
Loeffler put emphasis on the energy Loyola brought to the game, making it crystal clear that the team’s fire will only get brighter and hotter as the season goes on.
“I think our energy was good. I think we competed hard. I think Jonas Sirtautas brought a lot of energy. I thought we had some guys step up off the bench, Tyson Commander, Troy Cicero, Seb Emenalo… We’re a young group, and we need to use this to build and to get better,” Loeffler said.
Speed and Sirtautas led Loyola with 14 points each, with Emenalo having the next most with nine. For the Highlanders, Fulton kicked it into full gear in the second half, jumping from six points at the end of the first period to closing out with 22. He was followed by Clayville with 14.
With even more experience gained and a clear intent to capitalize on all of their untapped potential, the journey of the Loyola men’s basketball team is one more than worth just keeping an eye on.
To do that, make sure to catch Loyola’s next matches against Stonehill and Fairfield, taking place on Nov. 15 and 16, respectively. If you’re looking to catch a home game, you can watch Loyola face off against Washington College at 6 p.m. in Reitz Arena on Nov. 25. Mark the start of a well-deserved break by supporting men’s basketball at their next home game.
Can’t wait that long? Women’s basketball has a home game against Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m..