EASTON, Pa. – Sophomore Jon Brantley came off the bench to knock down his first four 3-pointers to ignite the Lafayette men's basketball team to a 77-68 victory over Loyola Wednesday night inside Kirby Sports Center.
 
"Our team is really growing and some of our young guys like Jon Brantley are really taking big steps," said head coach Fran O'Hanlon. "This whole team gave a great effort today and I thought we played a complete game."
 
Brantley matched his career high with 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range, joining classmate Kyle Jenkins and junior Neal Quinn in double-figures with 16 and 18, respectively.
 
After a tight first seven minutes that saw Lafayette with a slight edge, Brantley entered the fold to spark the Leopards jump out to an 11-point lead by the six-minute mark.
 
Brantley's outside presence was able to free up Quinn on the inside, scoring 12 of his 14 first-half points either at the free-throw line or in the paint.  
 
The Greyhounds did not go away, holding the Maroon and White to just a 1-of-5 start from the field in the second half and cut Lafayette's lead to three by the 14:45 mark. Senior Tomas Verbinskis answered that with a corner 3-pointer at the other end and Jenkins put down a monstrous dunk to extend the lead back to eight.
 
Lafayette was able to answer each Loyola run as the Greyhounds cut it to three points again before freshman CJ Fulton connected on a step-back 3-pointer late in the shot clock to spark a 9-2 run to get the lead back to double-digits with under 10 minutes to play.
 
Fulton gave the Leopards their largest lead of the night at 15 after a pair of free throws with under five minutes to play. However, Loyola would throw one more attack down the stretch to cut it to six points with under 90 seconds to play, but senior Tyrone Perry would hit free throws down the stretch to seal it.
 
Quinn also grabbed eight rebounds and has now scored in double-figures in 17 of the last 18 games while Perry scored nine while matching his career best with seven rebounds and five assists.
 
The Leopards shot 49% from the field during the game and held the visitors to just 4-of-17 from beyond the arc.
 
Saturday brings Lafayette across the state to take on Bucknell at 4 p.m. before returning to College Hill to host Holy Cross on Monday at 7 p.m. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.
 
For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.