WASHINGTON, D.C. – American University scored the game's first 14 points and eventually took a 21-4 lead Saturday, pulling away for a 65-55 win over visiting Loyola University Maryland in the teams' regular-season finales.
 
The Greyhounds will have a first-round bye in the upcoming Patriot League Championships as the No. 6 seed in the tournament. They will head to New England to face third-seeded Boston University on Thursday, March 3, in a 7 p.m. game that will stream live on ESPN+.
 
Stacy Beckton Jr. eventually extended the Eagles' lead to 35-14 with a 3-pointer 49 seconds before halftime, sending the teams to the locker rooms with American up 21.
 
Beckton scored again to start the second half, and it was a 23-point gap, but Golden Dike and Cam Spencer scored the next 10 points – six from Spencer, four by Dike – and Loyola was within 13, 37-24, by the time three minutes had passed in the second half.
 
Kenneth Jones knocked down a three at 9:02, and it was a 10-point margin, 49-39, but Beckton responded with a basket.
 
Dike would make the second of two free throws at 8:04, and then Spencer converted a pair with 6:38 on the clock, and the deficit was single-digits, 51-42.
 
A Spencer three at 5:10 cut the margin to six, 51-45, and then one from Jones made it 53-48 at 3:57, but Johnny O'Neil hit a shot from behind the arc, and Matt Rogers made one in the paint to push the American lead back to 10.
 
Spencer led Loyola with 21 points, while Jones added 13. Dike scored nine to go with a game-high 10 rebounds.