EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette men's basketball team led by as many as 16 in the second half on Saturday evening at Kirby Sports Center, but needed to outlast a surging Loyola team down the stretch to win by a bucket in a 77-75 victory.
 
Foul trouble led to easy Loyola buckets over the final two minutes as the Greyhounds cut it to a two-point margin, 74-72, with 15 seconds to play. Lafayette went up three and played the foul game, bleeding the clock and eventually running Loyola out of time for its fourth straight victory.
 
"We got off to a comfortable lead at the start of the second half, but that's such a scrappy team and they got back into it pretty quickly," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "They hurt us on the boards, but at the end of the day, it's great to win against a very good basketball team."
 
Senior co-captain Justin Jaworski and sophomore Leo O'Boyle provided the majority of the offense for the Maroon and White, scoring 25 and 19, respectively, with each hitting five triples on 10 attempts. Senior co-captain E.J. Stephens was also effective down the stretch after playing just eight minutes in the first half with foul trouble, finishing at 12 points with five boards, four steals and two assists.
 
As a unit, the Leopards notched their best assist game of the season, dishing out 21 helpers as a unit, led by six from junior Tyrone Perry. Seven different Leopards recorded at least two assists on the night.
 
The victory is the fourth straight for Lafayette, moving to 4-1 on the season overall. Loyola, playing its first game of the 2021 campaign with its first four scheduled contests postponed due to COVID, falls to 0-1.
 
Jaworski's pick-pocket and run-out layup tied the game at seven in the early going, but Jaylin Andrews answered with a triple from the top of the key on the other end to put the visitors in front into the first break after four minutes. Sophomore Neal Quinn found O'Boyle on back-to-back possessions for the Leopards around the 13-minute mark to take the game under 12 with the Leopards on top by four, 19-15.
 
Consecutive buckets from Golden Dike tied the game at 19 before O'Boyle's deep triple off the right wing put the Maroon and White back in front at 7:51, 22-19. An 8-0 run capped by a Jaworski steal-and-triple from the right corner forced a Loyola timeout at 3:51 with the Leopard lead at eight, 33-25, and that momentum carried through to the end of the half with Lafayette taking a 44-34 lead into the break.
 
The teams traded buckets through the first four minutes of the second stanza before Stephens' right-wing three made it an 11-point lead for the Maroon and White, 51-40, with 15:47 to play. O'Boyle's fifth three of the day at the 11:38 mark forced another Loyola timeout with the edge up to 13, 61-48.
 
The next five-minute stretch didn't provide much movement as four straight free throws from Stephens put the game at 65-50 with less than seven minutes to play and traded threes from Perry and Loyola's Wade Jackson put the half under six minutes at 68-57. Then, foul trouble led to easy buckets for the Greyhounds as they made it a game down the stretch.
 
When the game moved under two minutes, a 10-2 surge from the visitors moved the margin within a bucket, 74-72, with 15 seconds on the clock. Stephens and Jenkins went 3-for-4 from the line in the final moments, though, providing just enough to see it out, 77-75.
 
The two sides are set for a rematch tomorrow night in Baltimore, televised nationally on CBS Sports Network. Tip is set for 6 p.m.