EASTON, Pa. – The future is bright for the Lafayette men's basketball team with the performances of its two freshmen in a tight 70-68 loss to Loyola on Sunday afternoon in Kirby Sports Center. Leo O'Boyle and Neal Quinn combined for 38 of the Leopards' 68 points, setting new season-highs with 21 and 17 points respectively.
 
The Leopards erased a four-point deficit at halftime in less than two minutes, but Loyola quickly responded and extended its lead to as many as 12 with 8:05 to play. Trailing by nine with 1:55 left, the Leopards made a run, using a three-point play from Quinn and two threes from senior Kyle Stout and O'Boyle to pull within a bucket with 24 seconds on the clock. Stout's triple attempt to tie missed left, though, and Andrew Kostecka's free throw all but sealed it for the visitors.
 
The loss drops the Maroon and White to 17-10 on the year and 9-7 in Patriot League play, while Loyola improves to 15-14 and 7-9 in conference action.
 
O'Boyle's 21 points came on 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, his second five-three performance of the conference slate. Quinn did his damage in the paint, hitting on 7-of-12 to go with four rebounds and two blocks.
 
Senior co-captains Myles Cherry and Lukas Jarrett were both close to double-doubles on the day, combining for 16 points and 18 rebounds on the block. Junior E.J. Stephens made up for a tough shooting day with four boards, four assists, two steals and a block to follow up his 27-point outing in Wednesday's win over Boston U.
 
Loyola jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first two minutes, but back-to-back triples from O'Boyle and Jarrett put Lafayette on top at the 16:54 mark, 9-7. The Greyhounds took back control over the next five minutes as Kenneth Jones' driving finish to his left made it 20-15.
 
Two more from distance off the hand of O'Boyle and a crafty finish at the rim from sophomore Sean Good brought the Leopards within a bucket with 8:06 to play in the half, 25-23. But Loyola followed with an 11-4 run to go up seven at the under-four timeout and lead by four at the halftime break, 38-34.
 
Seven straight points from Quinn through the opening stages of the second half swung momentum on Lafayette's side with a 45-41 lead. But Loyola answered with nine straight to quickly swing it back and force a Leopard timeout at 13:24 with the deficit back to five, 50-45.
 
Loyola slowly extended its lead over the next four minutes as Golden Dike's finish through a foul put it at 61-51 with 9:31 remaining. That lead remained at double digits through the four-minute timeout with Dike free throws making it 65-54 into the final stretch.
 
The Leopards made it interesting down the stretch with a pair of threes surrounding the 30-second mark, but the final blow was Stout's missed three to tie. O'Boyle's floater at the buzzer was true, but that only changed the final score in a 70-68 defeat.
 
The Maroon and White hit the road for their penultimate regular season tilt in their next contest on Wednesday, traveling to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with American at 7 p.m.