Patsos’s Greyhounds take over first place in MAAC
BALTIMORE, Md. — Being geographically removed from the other nine members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has imbued Loyola an outsider mentality. Friday night against Iona in a battle for first place in the MAAC, the Greyhounds played as if they had something to prove.
With Erik Etherly throwing down three dunks in the opening eight minutes and barking at the visitors’ bench after each, Loyola surged to a quick lead that Iona never seriously challenged on its way to an 87-81 victory before a national television audience and a sellout crowd of 2,100 at Reitz Arena.
Junior forward Etherly (22 points, 10 rebounds) and sophomore guards Dylon Cormier (22 points) and Justin Drummond (17 points) helped Loyola (19-5, 12-2) build a 25-point lead on its way to its seventh straight win.
“I just want to know, does anyone have the number of the bus?” Iona coach Tim Cluess said. “They completely out-worked us in the first half.”
With an energized crowd fueling the Greyhounds’ pressure defense and up-tempo offense, it might have been the finest night in the eight-year tenure of Jimmy Patsos, a former assistant at Maryland for 13 seasons under Gary Williams.
“We cut down the nets in 2004, the ACC tournament,” Patsos said. “Gary Williams and I talk about this a lot. [Duke coach Mike] Krzyzewski talks about this – climbing Mount Everest isn’t that bad, the first half. The next 25 percent is attainable. It’s the last 25 percent, that you don’t know until you get there.”
It was a reversal of the first meeting, four weeks ago in New Rochelle, N.Y., a 74-63 Iona win in which the Gaels out-rebounded the Greyhounds 47-32. This time in the decisive first half, Loyola took down 23 rebounds to 14 for Iona.
Etherly, an Annandale High graduate who transferred from Northeastern, and sophomore Jordan Latham (four blocks) showed the way inside. The first time he touched the ball, Etherly back-rimmed a slam-dunk. But after that he channeled his adrenaline, triggering an early 10-0 run with a vicious, flying one-hander. Two Etherly slams later, Loyola had a 19-10 lead.
“I like the way Cluess plays,” Patsoa said. “It’s always going to be a fun game.”
Late in the first half, Cormier made a three-point-play and followed with a three-pointer to start Loyola on a 13-0 run on its way to a 47-30 halftime lead.
In the second half, Loyola stretched its lead to 25 before Iona (19-6, 11-3) rallied behind reserve guard Sean Armand (25 points), who hit five three-pointers, and Michael Glover (22 points, 16 rebounds). But the Gaels never got closer than to within four points in the final minute.
Notes: Loyola point guard R.J. Williams (nine points, five assists) limited Iona standout Scott Machado to seven points and eight assists … Junior Bobby Olson contributed 13 points and six rebounds for Loyola … Six teams in the MAAC are from New York with three others within 90 minutes.
