The men’s basketball (13-10 overall, 7-5 Patriot League) beat the United States Military Academy (9-15 overall, 3-9 Patriot League) 78-63 on Saturday, Feb. 4. This win is the fourth straight for the Greyhounds, and the team is now tied with Lehigh for fourth place in the Patriot League.
Loyola was led once again by guard Andre Walker ’18, who score 25 points in his 37 minutes of play time. Army’s leading scorer was guard Tommy Funk ’20 with 13 points scored.
Loyola was in control of the game throughout the first half, constantly finding holes in the Army defense and exploiting them. A large chunk of Loyola’s offense came from the free-throw line, where they went 7-10 off of 11 Army fouls. Loyola was a major beneficiary of some terrible Army shooting, as West Point only went 9-23 in the half with 11 turnovers as well.
Walker capitalized on Loyola fast start by banking in a three-pointer as time expired. The play went under review, but the officials upheld the basket.
Loyola led 34-25 at the half, with Walker having 18 points and forward Jarred Jones ’17 chipping in six points and five rebounds respectively.
The second half saw more of the same control from Loyola: making Army pay for its mistakes. Loyola extended its lead to a game-high of 20 points with nine minutes left in the game, as Loyola led 61-41.
Army was only able to cut Loyola’s lead to 13 points, as Loyola continued to shut Army’s offense down for the majority of the half. Army’s points mostly came from the free-throw line in the second half, shooting 6-9 (66.7 percent). Army simply could not get over their turnover woes, committing 21 throughout the game.
Army finished the game shooting a measly 40.8 percent from the field, with guard Jordan Fox ’19 contributing 12 points for the Black Knights.
Jones and forward Cam Gregory ’17 both finished with double-doubles for Loyola. Jones had 16 points to go with 10 rebounds, while Gregory led Loyola’s rebounding with 14 and 10 points.
Loyola’s next two games are on the road at the Naval Academy and Boston University before returning home to play a massive tilt against the Patriot League leader Bucknell. The game against Bucknell is on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
