WASHINGTON, D.C. –
Jordan Stiemke drove through the center of the lane, scored and drew a foul before converting the free throw to give Loyola University Maryland a one-point lead that it would hold onto for a 44-43 win at American University on Wednesday night.
Stiemke, who was making the second start of his career, scored the traditional 3-point play with 1:17 left in regulation to tie the game after the Eagles (13-11 overall, 7-4 Patriot League) had taken their only lead of the game.
After Stiemke's basket,
Milos Ilic came up with a steal on the defensive end, and the Greyhounds called a timeout with 51 ticks left.
Loyola, however, turned the ball over on its offensive end, setting up an opportunity for American to take the lead with under 30 seconds left.
The Eagles called a timeout at midcourt, but Loyola appeared the bottle up American's Matt Rogers on the baseline. The ball was ruled out off Loyola, however, and the Eagles had possession with 7.2 seconds to play.
Matt Mayock took a corner three from in front of the American bench, but it rimmed out.
Golden Dike got the rebound for Loyola and was fouled with 1.2 seconds left. He missed the front end of one-and-one, but American could not get a shot off before the buzzer.
Deon Perry led the Greyhounds with 23 points, going 9 of 9 at the free-throw line overall 5 of 5 in the second half. Stiemke and Dike each had six points.
Loyola had a 36-30 advantage in rebounding with Dike leading the way with seven. Stiemke and Perry both had six. Ilic came up with a career-high four steals.
The Greyhoudns took a 10-point lead, 17-7, just under 10 minutes into the game on a Perry three, and they led by 11 three times before halftime.
Three in the first four minutes of the second half, Loyola pushed the lead to 13. Perry's jumper from the baseline with 16:01 left in regulation made it 36-23 left, but scoring became a premium from there.
Loyola did not score for nearly nine minutes until Perry was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to stretch the lead back to five, 39-34 with 7:26 on the clock. He scored a pair of free throws on the next possession, but Loyola's only other points of the second half came on Stiemke's and-one.
The Greyhounds held American to 34.8 percent from the field in the game and eight percent (2 of 25) from 3-point range.
Loyola became just the seventh team in NCAA Division I to post a win this year when shooting less than 30 percent from the field (29.4). The Greyhounds' 44 points are the lowest in a victory this season by four points.
The Greyhounds will be back on the court Saturday, February 10, when they host Colgate University at 5 p.m. in Reitz Arena.
