For the Loyola Greyhounds, four miles made all the difference in the world. Opening the season with a loss at rival Towson on Friday, the Greyhounds came back home to dominate the Penn Quakers 89-68 in front of 1,227 fans on Sunday afternoon at Reitz Arena in the preliminary round of the Philly Hoop Group Classic.
Loyola (1-1) started fast, scoring the first seven points of the game and jumped out to an 18-9 lead nearly eight minutes into the game against the defending Ivy League champion.
“Opening night we slacked a bit on defense,” guard Gerald Brown, who had a career-high six steals, said. “That was the biggest thing, I wanted to bounce back and play defense.”
But Penn (0-2) would battle back to 20-17 thanks to 5 first-half points from Jack Eggleston, who was 2-of-2 from the field. However, the Greyhounds had the answer, scoring 23 of the last 32 points of the first half to take a 43-26 lead into intermission.
Using more players in the first half than in the entire, 83-69, loss to Towson, Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos found minutes for 11 players in the opening stanza, but none played better harder than senior forward Michael Tuck who made his first start of the season.
Tuck scored 13 of his 18points in the first half and found his way to numerous loose balls to spark a Greyhound?s team that was flat for long stretches in the opener. He finished the game 7-of-13 from the field ? 3-of-5 from beyond the arc ? and grabbed six rebounds.
“We were very fortunate they didn?t hit more three?s,” Patsos said of Penn, who shot 4-of-23 from beyond the arc. “This is a team that will contend for the Ivy League title.”
The Quakers showed signs of life by cutting the lead to just 13 points at 45-32 two minutes into the second half. But Loyola would respond with a 20-9 run to extend the its lead to an insurmountable 24 points at 65-41 with 12:24 remaining. Andreas Schreiber led Penn with 13 points and five rebounds.
The Greyhounds made 12 steals and forced 21 turnovers.
Brown finished with a game-high 27 points for the Greyhounds, as he scored 19 in the first half and 8 in the second. He shot 8-of-18 from the floor and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Guard Brett Harvey had just four points, but recorded a career-high nine assists, two steals and only one turnover to help his offense find a rhythm that settled for 29 three-point shot attempts in its season-opening loss.
“[Brett] had a great game,” Patsos said. “A big reason Gerald Brown had such a tremendous year last year was him. And he did a lot of things that don?t show up on the stat sheet, he got us in huddles and set up.”
