WORCESTER, Mass. – Andrew Kostecka scored 18 points and had five assists with four steals to lead four Loyola University Maryland players in double-figure scoring on Wednesday night as the Greyhounds posted a 74-60 Patriot League road win at College of the Holy Cross.
 
The Greyhounds (11-13 overall, 3-8 Patriot League) shot 53.7 percent from the field while holding Holy Cross (3-21, 2-9) to 38.8 percent and 17.4 from 3-point range.
 
Isaiah Hart added 12 points for Loyola, Santi Aldama had 11 and a game-high eight rebounds and Jaylin Andrews posted 10 points with four steals.
 
Trailing 19-18 with 12:10 left in the first half after Holy Cross' Austin Butler scored a layup, Golden Dike scored after an Andrews steal to start a 17-5 run that would cover almost nine minutes and see Kostecka put the Greyhounds in front, 35-24, on two Kostecka free throws.
 
Kostecka had eight of the 17 points during the stretch that would put Loyola in front for good.
 
KaVaughn Scott scored off an Andrews assist on a screen-and-roll to start the second half, which was followed by two Hart free throws and a Kostecka layup that gave Loyola a 49-32 lead, forcing a Holy Cross timeout.
 
The 17-point margin was Loyola's largest of the game, a spread it hit multiple times during the game, but twice the Crusaders made small runs to threaten to get back into the game.
 
Butler converted in the paint with 11:12 left, making it 53-42, but Kenneth Jones hit a hop-back three from the top of the perimeter to stretch the lead back to 14, and he then threw a half-court alley-oop pass to Kostecka with 9:51 on the clock that made it 58-42.
 
Connor Niego hit a three with 6:22 left that got the Holy Cross deficit back to 11, and Matt Faw scored in the paint with 4:25 on the clock, bringing the deficit back to single-digits for the first time since late in the first half.
 
After Faw's basket, however, Cam Spencer stepped behind the 3-point line at the top and buried a three to give Loyola 12-point lead that it would soon stretch to 17 on a Kostecka transition basket after he had his fourth steal of the game.
 
Scott nearly made it five Greyhounds in double-figures as he tallied all nine of his points in the second half after being limited in the first with two fouls.
 
Loyola held the Crusaders to 4 of 23 from 3-point range, and the Greyhounds kept Holy Cross' leading scorer, Joe Pridgen to only nine points. Pridgen entered the game averaging 16.5. Butler led the Crusaders with 16 points, and Niego had 13.
 
The Greyhounds, who have now won two in a row, return to Reitz Arena on Saturday, February 8, for a 5 p.m. game against Bucknell University.