February 11, 2015

Box Score | Photo Gallery

BALTIMORE, Md. - It was a long night on both ends of the floor for the Lafayette men's basketball team on Wednesday evening in Baltimore, Md., falling to Loyola, 62-43. Lafayette's 43 points is their lowest point total of the season.

There seemed to be a lid on the basket in Reitz Arena as Lafayette shot less than 40 percent from the field for just the third time this season, but the second in as many games. The Leopards went 14-for-45 from the field (31.1%) and 4-for-18 from beyond the arc (22.2%).

Sophomore Nick Lindner led the Leopards in scoring with 12 points on the night, while senior Joey Ptasinski sat out the game with an illness. Senior Dan Trist tallied eight points and classmate Seth Hinrichs added seven points and five rebounds.

On the other side, Loyola's Tyler Hubbard led a balanced attack with 14 points, and Franz Rassman chipped in with 13. The Greyhounds went 24-for-52 from the field (46.2%) and 7-for-18 from three-point range (38.9%). Loyola also led the way on the glass, 35-26, and held the advantages in points in the paint (24-16), second-chance points (11-7), fast-break points (8-4) and bench points (15-11)

Lafayette opened the game just 1-for-9 from the field and Loyola hit a pair of threes at the end of shot clocks to take a 10-3 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the opening half. Lafayette would go another two minutes without scoring before Lindner's fast-break lay-up ended the drought. That, coupled with a triple from the top of the key from the sophomore, brought the Leopards within five at 13-8 with 11:20 to play in the first.

The Maroon and White continued to fight through cold shooting during the midway point of the half as Loyola worked its lead out to nine at 20-11 at the eight-minute media timeout. The struggles continued throughout the next five minutes as Loyola worked its edge to as many as 15 at 28-13. However, six back from Lafayette was finished off by a move into the lane from Trist to bring the Leopards within nine at 28-19 with less than two minutes to play. That lead would remain into the halftime break with the Greyhounds on top, 30-21.

Lafayette came out in the second going right to Hinrichs on the block, who hit a turnaround layup to cut the edge to seven at 30-23. However, the next seven went the way of Loyola as the home lead grew to 14 at 37-23 with 17:30 remaining.

Loyola carried that momentum on both ends of the floor through to the midway point of the half as cold shooting remained for Lafayette. Back-to-back run-out's from the Hounds at the 12-minute mark grew the lead up over 20 at 49-26.

Trist ended another period of offensive inefficiency at the 9:49 mark with a free-throw after Lafayette had gone 6:21 without a point. However, Loyola continued its solid offensive effort as a triple from Sean Tuohy, Jr. at the eight-minute mark pushed the advantage to 30 at 59-29.

A turnaround jumper from junior Ben Freeland in the lane, followed by a triple from sophomore Monty Boykins at the top of the key with 3:34 to play gave the Leopards hope down the stretch with the lead at just 16, 59-43. However, Loyola ran the clock out in the final minutes to walk away with the 62-43 victory.

The Leopards remain on the road through the weekend, traveling to Washington, D.C. to take on American on Saturday at 2 p.m.