BALTIMORE – Cam Spencer made two free throws with 4.8 seconds left on the clock to raise his game-high scoring total to 26 points and seal a 71-67 Patriot League victory over Bucknell University as Loyola University Maryland men's basketball won its third-straight game on Monday.
 
Spencer grabbed a loose ball on the defensive end with just under nine seconds left on the clock, dribbled into the corner to burn time off the clock and was fouled to go to the line with one-and-one free throws.
 
He made both, and Bucknell's last-second 3-point attempt was off the mark as Loyola (9-6 overall, 3-1 Patriot League) left its home floor with a win.
 
The game was Spencer's sixth of the season with 20 or more points, his fifth with 23-plus.
 
Jaylin Andrews scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half as the duo from Boys' Latin School of Maryland combined for 45 in the game.
 
Spencer gave Loyola a 12-point lead, 51-39, with 14:20 to go in regulation on a driving layup off a Veljko Ilic pass, but the Bison (3-13, 0-4) rattled off eight-straight points to draw within four on a traditional 3-point play by Alex Timmerman just over two minutes later.
 
Loyola built its advantage back to eight on two occasions, baskets in the paint by Kenneth Jones and Andrews, but Andrew Funk drove through the key and scored at 5:01 to cut the margin to a point, 64-63, at 5:01.
 
The Greyhounds turned it over on the ensuing possession, but Bucknell misfired on shots over its next two trips to the offensive end, and the gap was still one over two minutes later.
 
Jones then slipped behind a perimeter screen and took a Golden Dike pass, knocking down a three at 2:36 to push the margin back to four, 67-63.
 
Jake van der Heijden immediately scored for the Bison to bring it back to a one-possession game, but Spencer scored on a step-back fading jumper with 78 seconds on the clock, and Loyola led 69-65.
 
Xander Rice got into the paint and drew significant contact for Bucknell a few possessions later, and his layup rattled in. He went to the free-throw line to shoot one. Rice entered the game ranked No. 54 in the nation in free-throw percentage (87.1 percent) missed the shot, and Andrews rebounded for the Greyhounds.
 
He was fouled, but he missed the front end of one-and-one.
 
The Bison called a full timeout with 18 seconds left, and van der Heijden appeared to have room on a backdoor cut, but Andre Screen's pass went low and bounced off van der Heijden, off the bottom of the backboard and into Spencer's hands.
 
Loyola finished the game by shooting 51.7 percent from the field and with a 34-30 rebounding advantage. Alonso Faure led the Greyhounds with seven boards, while Spencer had six and both Dike and Milos Ilic grabbed five.
 
Funk led Bucknell with 21 points, and van der Heijden added 11, while Alex Timmerman scored 10.
 
Loyola continues its brief, two-game homestand on Thursday, January 13, when it hosts Lafayette College at 7 p.m.