BALTIMORE – The Lafayette men's basketball team couldn't complete the weekend sweep on Sunday evening in Baltimore, Maryland as Loyola salvaged the split in an 88-69 Leopard loss.
 
The Leopards scored the first six points of the game, but a 16-0 answer from the Greyhounds set the tone as the home side led by 18 at halftime and only stretched that out in the second half. The win improves the home team to 2-7 on the year overall, while Lafayette falls to 7-5.
 
Three Leopards finished in double-figure scoring, led by 17 from senior co-captain Justin Jaworski, going 8-of-8 from the foul line. Classmate and co-captain E.J. Stephens added 11 points, while sophomore Leo O'Boyle got back on track with 12 on 4-of-6 from the floor.
 
Loyola shot 53.0 percent from the field on the night and made 7-of-17 from the three-point line (41.2%) while committing just seven turnovers. Lafayette was fairly efficient at 22-of-51 overall (43.1%), but 14 first-half turnovers dug a hole the Leopards couldn't overcome.
 
Lafayette connected on its first pair from the outside, including O'Boyle's first triple in three games to take a 6-4 lead after the opening four minutes. But Loyola, similar to Saturday, was hot out of the gate, as 12 straight forced a timeout at 11:52 with the Leopard deficit at 16-6.
 
Freshman Kyle Jenkins' triple and the first career bucket for classmate Eric Sondberg surrounded another six from Loyola into the under-eight break as the Leopards worked to stay within striking distance at 22-11. However, the home side continued to execute into the halftime intermission, stretching their lead to 18 at the break, 44-26.
 
There was no movement in the margin in the second half through more than 10 minutes as the sides traded buckets to the tune of a 70-52 margin with 8:23 to play. The Leopards got as close as 15 in the second stanza, but Loyola stretched it back out over the final minutes as no comeback materialized for the Maroon and White in an 88-69 final.
 
Lafayette finally gets back to central division play in its next outings, battling Bucknell next weekend. The Leopards host the Bison on Saturday at 4 p.m. before a 6 p.m. clash in Lewisburg on Sunday.