BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland men's basketball held Coppin State University to just six made field goals in the second half, while the Greyhounds shot 50-percent from the field after the break to rally for a 68-57 road victory.
Jacob Theodosiou scored a career-high 23 points and hit three 3-pointers in the final 11:21 of regulation, while
Milos Ilic had his third-straight game with a double-double, scoring 17 with 10 rebounds and four assists. His twin brother,
Veljko Ilic, returned after missing the last three games to score 12 points.
Coppin State led by as many as seven late in the first half when Jonathan Dunn scored with 2:13 left in the period.
Garrett Brennan,
Milos Ilic and
Tyson Commander all scored in the paint between that basket and halftime to make it a one-point Eagles lead at the break, 34-33.
Milos Ilic gave Loyola a one-point lead with a paint basket 1:33 into the second half. The Eagles would retake the lead but only go up by two with 14:58 on the clock.
Veljko Ilic would score off a Greyhounds offensive rebound at 13:45, pushing Loyola up one, 40-39, a lead it would not relinquish.
Theodosiou hit the first of his second-half threes with 11:21 left, and
Braeden Speed followed with another on the next possession to give the Greyhounds a 50-43 lead.
The second three of the stretch by Theodosiou with 8:10 to go made it an eight-point Loyola lead, and his third gave the Greyhounds the first double-digit lead of the game for either team, 64-54, with 65 seconds left in regulation.
Theodosiou scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half, the most a Loyola player has scored after halftime this season.
Milos Ilic, who was named Patriot League Player of the Week earlier in the day, was 6 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. He matched his career-high with four assists, and he logged his fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and 10 rebounds, his third in as many games.
Veljko Ilic came back from an injury that held him out the last three contests to score 12 points and grab five rebounds in just 13 minutes of action.
Speed had all seven of his points in the game's final 12 minutes. He also had four assists and grabbed a career-best seven rebounds.
Loyola doubled-up the Eagles on the boards, grabbing 42 rebounds to Coppin State's 21.
Khali Horton and Peter Oduro each had 11 points for the Eagles.
Loyola will be back on the road Saturday, December 7, with a 2 p.m. game at Delaware State University.
