Loyola’s men’s basketball team defeated Holy Cross 78-63 in a very commanding performance on Senior Night. This game saw Loyola get to an early lead and extend it throughout the game. Andre Walker led Loyola with 15 points (Most of them came in the 2nd half) and Cam Gregory had 11 rebounds and 8 points. Senior Franz Rassman chipped in 13 points of his own.
Holy Cross was led by several freshman players, Karl Charles (15 points, 5 Rebounds) and Jehyve Floyd (10 points). Floyd showed a really solid interior potential while Charles was perfect from the free throw line (9 for 9). Despite these two stellar performances, Holy Cross could never quite catch Loyola.
The first half was marred by mini-cold shooting streaks by both teams. Holy Cross and Loyola both sustained possessions where shots were not falling. However, Tyler Hubbard of Loyola was able to snap a few of the cold streaks by draining big-time three pointers to keep Loyola in front.
Loyola sophomore Andre Walker showed poise running the offense and sticking to his game. He set up fellow sophomore Cam Gregory for a nice dunk with 55 seconds to go in the half. Loyola went into the half with the 33-23 lead. Holy Cross Junior Malachi Alexander looked poised to have a solid game with five points and rebounds before half, but that was his final statline for the game.
The second half was more of the same for Loyola: Control tempo, rebound the basketball, and luckily Holy Cross couldn’t make a shot. Rassman scored eight of his points within the first four minutes of the second half. Walker hit two clutch three pointers on back-to-back posessions around the 10-minute mark to give Loyola a firm control of the game. Holy Cross was able to chip away and cut the lead to 10 with five minutes left to play by making four out of five shots, but solid free throw shooting and sustained possession gave Loyola the eventual win.
Loyola improves to 8-9 in Patriot League play (9-19 overall), and the team will finish their season Saturday, Feb. 27 at American in Washington D.C. before the Patriot League Playoffs begin. Holy Cross moves to 5-12 in the Patriot League (10-18 overall) and they travel back to Massachusetts to take on in-state rival Boston University on Feb 27. as well.
