WORCESTER, Mass. –
Golden Dike's layup with 3:25 on the clock gave Loyola University Maryland a one-point lead, and
David Brown III had a steal on the ensuing defensive possession that gave the Greyhounds a chance to make it a two-possession game, but College of the Holy Cross held off the Loyola for a 68-64 Patriot League win on Wednesday night at the Hart Center.
Following Brown's steal, the Greyhounds missed 3-pointers on three-straight possessions, and the Crusaders tied the game at 62-62 when Gerrale Gates went 1 of 2 at the free-throw line at 1:39. After the third 3-point miss, Gates converted in traffic with 60 seconds left, giving Holy Cross a two-point lead.
Kyrell Luc made the gap four with a pair of free throws 30 seconds later, and Loyola would not score until
Cam Spencer's driving layup with six seconds to go. The Greyhounds fouled on the in-bound play, and Luc hit both free throws to ice the win with 5.2 seconds left.
Spencer scored a game-high 27 points in the loss, making 11 of 15 shots form the field, 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
Veljko Ilic had 11 points, all in the first half, and Jones finished with 10 for Loyola, which shot 46.3 percent from the field.
Ilic's early points helped Loyola take a 26-18 lead with 9:55 left in the first half as he made two free throws to get to his point total for the evening just over 10 minutes into the contest.
Holy Cross, however, went on an 11-2 run to lead by a point on a Gates layup with 5:07 to go in the frame. The Crusaders extended their advantage to eight, 39-31, on a Gates jumper with 69 seconds showing before halftime, but Spencer converted a
Milos Ilic steal into points with 37 seconds left, and Holy Cross took a 39-33 lead to the locker room.
Luc made a three just 29 seconds into the second half to stretch Holy Cross's lead to 42-33, but Loyola rattled off nine-straight points, seven from Spencer, to tie the game at 42-42 with 16:28 left.
The Crusaders would go up by as many as six over the next six-plus minutes, and they were ahead 54-49 on a Bo Montgomery conversion at 8:20 before Spencer and
Milos Ilic knocked down consecutive threes to put Loyola up a point at 7:17.
Gates made the second of two at the charity stripe 17 seconds later, but
Jaylin Andrews pulled up from 18 feet to score for Loyola and give the Greyhounds a 57-55 lead.
That would be short-lived as Gates scored 23 seconds later to tie the game, and he made another jumper at 5:57 to put Holy Cross in front.
Gates finished with 23 points, while Luc had 18.
Loyola will be back in action on Saturday, February 12, when it hosts Colgate University at 5 p.m. in Reitz Arena.
