OPENING TIP
* Lafayette hits the road again after a 1-1 homestand looking to get back to the .500 mark in conference action against Loyola. The Greyhounds, picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll are in the same boat after dropping two of their first three conference tilts.
* Saturday's contest features the top-two scorers in the Patriot League this season in Andrew Kostecka (21.4 ppg) and Justin Jaworski (18.4 ppg). The pair led their respective teams in scoring the last time the two teams met with Kostecka notching 21 and Jaworski countering with 18 in the Lafayette victory.
* A win for the Maroon and White would be the fourth straight in the series, taking both contests in 2018-19.

LAST TIME OUT
Junior Justin Jaworski became the 46th 1,000-point scorer in program history for the Lafayette men's basketball team on Wednesday evening as his 19 points led the Leopards to an 82-64 victory over Holy Cross at Kirby Sports Center.

Jaworski, who needed nine points for 1,000 coming into the night, took care of that in the opening half, scoring 13 of his 19 in the opening 20 minutes. The junior co-captain finished with five assists and four steals as well, both team-bests.

The game was back-and-forth throughout the first half with the Crusaders making a run into the break to cut a 10-point Lafayette lead to three at 42-39 into halftime. But Lafayette came out determined to not let this one get away, gradually expanding its lead throughout the second stanza and leading by as many as 22 with 4:19 to go.

Junior E.J. Stephens once again provided plenty of production off the bench, matching Jaworski's total with 19 points on the night to accompany six boards. Stephens went 7-for-14 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Senior Myles Cherry added 13 points, with 11 coming in the second half, as his work with classmate Lukas Jarrett and junior Dylan Hastings on the low block gave the Crusaders fits all night long. Hastings provided one of his most productive outings of the year, swatting a career-high five blocks, the most by a Lafayette player this season, and adding five rebounds with four points, an assist and a steal in 22 minutes for a +14 stat line, the second-most behind +20 from Stephens.

The victory also served as a bit of revenge for the Maroon and White against a team that finished their season a year ago at Kirby. Holy Cross knocked out Lafayette in the opening round of the Patriot League Tournament on March 5, 2019 by a 79-74 score.

THE SKINNY ON THE GREYHOUNDS
Loyola, picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, has lived up to those lofty expectations through the first half of the 2019-20 campaign, sitting at 9-7 overall with an 8-5 mark coming out of non-league action and a 1-2 record early in league play. All five starters return for second-year head coach Tavares Hardy, who went 11-21 in his first season in Baltimore.

Preseason All-Patriot League selection Andrew Kostecka does just about everything for the Loyola unit, leading the Patriot League in scoring at 21.4 points per game this season and pacing the side on the glass with 5.4 boards per night. Cam Spencer adds just shy of 10 points per outing, while KaVaughn Scott has chipped in with 8.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season as a formidable force on the block.

LAST MEETING
In a game tied at 61-61 with two minutes to play, it could have gone either way the last time Lafayette and Loyola met in Baltimore. The Leopards swung it their way in the closing minutes, taking advantage of chances and locking in on the defensive end to earn a 69-64 win.

With 1:16 remaining in a tie game and the shot clock winding down, Justin Jaworski hit the turning-point shot, a three from the right corner through a foul to put the Leopards up four, 65-61. Loyola's Kenneth Jones answered with a triple on the other end, but defensive stops and 4-of-4 from the foul line in the final 15 seconds with two each from Jaworski and Isaac Suffren closed it out.

Jaworski led Lafayette on the offensive end with 18 points on 6-of-10 from the field, 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 3-of-3 from the foul line. Paulius Zalys came as close as he's ever come to a triple-double, adding nine boards and a career-high eight assists to his 10 points. Alex Petrie was the other major source of offense, chipping in with 16 points on three deep triples in four attempts from distance.

The Lafayette offense clicked despite its season-high 22 turnovers, making 26-of-53 from the field (49.1%) and assisting on 17 of those 26 field goals. The Leopards hit 9-of-20 from three-point range (45.0%) and won the battle on the glass comfortably, 38-27.

THOUSAND ISLAND
With his 19-point effort in the win over Holy Cross on Jan. 8, junior Justin Jaworski became the 46th player in Lafayette men's basketball history to record more than 1,000 career points. Jaworski has netted 1,010 total points in his two-plus seasons of work and sits just 49 points outside the top-40 scorers in program history.

EVERYBODY HITS!
The performance of this year's team from beyond the arc has been outstanding with the group leading the Patriot League and currently 11th in the nation in three-point percentage at 39.1 percent from deep.  The Leopards have five players averaging more than 40 percent from beyond the arc, including three of their top-four shooters in terms of attempts. 

E.J. Stephens, Justin Jaworski and Tyrone Perry are converting at 41.5, 40.9 and 40.0 percent clips from distance, respectively, with Stephens' rate good enough for fifth in the Patriot League rankings and Jaworski's (with more attempts qualifying him for national rankings) good for 38th, nationally. Even senior Myles Cherry has gotten in on the action, going 6-of-10 from deep this winter, including the game-winner at Cornell, after entering the season with just four career triples over his first three years on College Hill.

BLOCK PARTY
Lafayette finished second in the Patriot League in blocks last season, protecting the rim to the tune of 4.2 send-back's per game, and is poised to be a league-leader in that category once again, currently atop the rankings at 4.5 blocks per game through 14 games this winter. Sophomore Sean Good's two blocks against Bucknell moved his total to 21 on the year, good enough for the top spot in the Patriot League, while junior Dylan Hastings sent back a career-high five shots in the last outing against Holy Cross.

Senior Lukas Jarrett is the Patriot League's leading returning shot-blocker at 1.7 per contest a year ago, and tallied at least two blocks in all but four games during conference play in 2018-19. A one-block effort at Sacred Heart places his career total at 101, ranking him fifth in Lafayette history, seven behind Otis Ellis, who sent back 108 shots from 1985-89.