BALTIMORE – Army West Point led by five points with 17 seconds left in regulation on Saturday night, but Loyola University Maryland staged an improbable rally for a 69-68 Patriot League victory after
Golden Dike made a layup with 2.5 ticks of the clock left in Reitz Arena.
Isaiah Caldwell made two free throws with 17 seconds left to give the Black Knights a 67-62 lead, but
Jordan Stiemke hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night to get Loyola within a pair with 11 second on the clock.
Loyola fouled Jaden Ellis on Army West Point's inbound play, but he missed the front end of two shots with eight ticks to go. Ellis converted the second shot, and the Black Knights fouled
Tyson Commander at half court with 5.1 showing.
After the second free throw, Josh Scovens inbounded for Army West Point, but his baseball pass past halfcourt was intercepted by
Alonso Faure.
Faure threw back to Dike in the paint, he spun on Scovens and put in a right-handed layup to give Loyola a 69-68 lead. Dike drew the foul and missed the free throw. Charlie Peterson grabbed the defensive rebound and threw a full-court shot that went just right, sealing the win for Loyola.
Stiemke finished with 17 points, and Commander scored 14 points – his most this calendar year. Faure finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, and Dike had seven points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Garrett Brennan scored eight and had a game-high five rebounds.
Loyola took a lead of as many as 10, 15-5, with 11:05 to play in the first half, and a Commander pull-up jumper made it 31-23 in the Greyhounds' favor with 1:41 to go in the period.
Army West Point, however, got two T.J. Small 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds of the stanza, and Loyola took a 31-29 lead to the locker room.
Brennan gave Loyola a 40-32 lead lead 5:55 into the second half with a 3-pointer, but Army West Point chipped away and tied the score with 9:57 on the clock.
The Black Knights then regained the lead on their next possession, and a jumper at 3:23 made it a 61-54 lead for Army West Point.
Loyola pulled within four on two Faure free throws with 36 seconds left, but Small was fouled on the inbound pass and made the two foul shots a second later to put Army West Point back up by six.
The Greyhounds enter the Patriot League Championships on Tuesday, March 5, with a 7 p.m. game at the U.S. Naval Academy.
