EASTON, Pa. – The offense was clicking on all cylinders for the Lafayette men's basketball team on Wednesday evening at Kirby Sports Center as the Leopards used hot shooting to post an 85-70 victory over Loyola, the first in Patriot League play.

The Maroon and White connected on 32-of-58 from the field (55.2%) and 11-of-20 from three-point range (55.0%), both season bests, while a number of Leopards posted career-high performances. Senior co-captain Paulius Zalys registered a career-high seven assists, junior Lukas Jarrett recorded a career-best five blocks and sophomore Justin Jaworski added a career-high six rebounds.

Sophomore Alex Petrie led the Leopards in scoring with 19 points on the night, the best scoring output for the defending Patriot League Rookie of the Year since dropping 26 at Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 25. Jaworski followed with 17 and Zalys added 16 with five rebounds and a steal for another all-around solid performance. Zalys is in the midst of the best stretch of games of his career in his final season on College Hill, averaging 15.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in his last five contests.

Lafayette was in control for the majority of the game, leading for 36:18 of the contest and by nine at halftime, 39-28. That lead never slipped away throughout another solid 20 minutes of play in the second to push the Leopards to 4-10 overall on the year and 1-2 in conference action.

KaVaughn Scott led all scorers with 21 points for the visiting side, one of three double-figure scorers. Chuck Champion added 14 and Isaiah Hart chipped in with 11, as the Leopards defended Andrew Kostecka well, holding the Patriot League's leading scorer at 20.8 points per night to just eight on 3-of-9 from the field. The loss drops the Greyounds to 4-12 this season and 0-3 in Patriot League play.

Both sides traded buckets over the opening five minutes, with Petrie's triple at the 15-minute mark leading to an early advantage, 11-10. After a Scott layup to give Loyola the 14-13 lead at 13:46, a mini 7-2 spurt was the Leopard response, regaining the lead at 20-16 at the midway point of the half.

The Leopards continued to shoot it well over the next stretch with five straight from Jaworski forcing a timeout at 7:23 with the home side in front, 29-21. Back-to-back buckets from Hart and a Kostecka lay-in brought it under the four-minute mark at 32-27, but Lafayette held tough and a Petrie triple with 42 seconds to play sent the game to the break with the Leopards on top, 38-29.

The Maroon and White remained in control at the start of the second half as Jarrett's steal on one end and put-back on the other moved the edge to double digits, up 48-37 with 15:27 to play. After E.J. Stephens' triple at 14:55 made it 51-37, Loyola responded with eight straight to force a Leopards' timeout at 12:59 with the lead trimmed to six, 51-45.

Petrie's jumper on the left baseline and free throws from Zalys stemmed the tide at the 11-minute mark, moving the edge back to 10, 57-47. Then, five straight finished off by a Jarrett three sent the game under the eight-minute mark with the edge at 15, 64-49.

Lafayette continued to stretch its lead through the final minutes of the second half as a Zalys layup at 3:53 moved it to 20, 78-58. Loyola threw on the press and made a run to get as close as 13 with 1:03 left, but the Leopards saw out the final minute for the 85-70 victory.

Next up for the Maroon and White is a trip to Holy Cross on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 3 p.m.