Fewer than 48 hours after giving its worst performance of the season, the Loyola men?s basketball team gave one of its best in a 77-54 victory over Manhattan in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Reitz Arena.
The Greyhounds (5-5 overall, 1-1 league), who were coming off a lopsided loss at Iona on Friday, dominated the Jaspers from the opening tip to end a three-game losing streak that had tarnished a strong start to the season.
Loyola, which had made just 33 percent of its shots the past three games, shot 51.7 percent and recorded 21 assists against 12 turnovers. The Greyhounds jumped out to leads of 15-0 and 25-5 and never looked back as guard Brett Harvey posted career-highs with 11 assists and 10 rebounds and Gerald Brown added a game-high 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
“The whole offense was working,” Harvey said. “We got our confidence back and got back to playing the way we can.”
The Greyhounds took their largest lead of the first half in front of a crowd of 1,222 when forward Omari Isreal found himself alone underneath the basket for an easy layup. Manhattan (5-4, 1-1), cut the score to 42-23 at intermission behind seven points from forward Brandon Adams, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
“Last year we were a pretty good road team and [Friday night] woke us up,” Brown said.
Loyola continued its strong play in the second half, as a three-pointer by guard Brian Rudolph extended the lead to 29 points, 57-28, with 12:08 left. Manhattan pulled to within 68-44 with just 4:46 left on a jumper by Rashad Green, but would get no closer until the waning seconds.
“Our kids learned a valuable lesson today to never give up on ourselves,” Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos said. “I am really impressed at how our guys came back.”
