BALTIMORE – Dylon Cormier scored a team-high 20 points, and Erik Etherly tallied a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, as five Loyola University Maryland players scored 10 or more in the Greyhounds’ 78-68 victory over visiting Coppin State University on Monday night in Reitz Arena.
The Greyhounds also dominated on the boards, outrebounding Coppin State, 47-25. Loyola allowed just five Eagles’ offensive rebounds, and Coppin State (1-1 overall) did not score a second-chance point.
Etherly’s 11 rebounds led all players, while four other Greyhounds – Shane Walker and Justin Drummond (seven each) and Cormier and Robert Olson (six each) – had six or more boards.
“Erik had a great game, especially coming back from an injury,” Head Coach Jimmy Patsos said of his junior forward who broke his nose in practice last week and played limited minutes in the season-opener Friday at Wake Forest. “Our athletic trainer, Steve Austin, did a great job helping Erik get ready for tonight. We knew that we had to go after rebounds, and we executed that tonight.”
Loyola had 18 on the offensive glass, turning those boards into 17 second-chance points.
“We were just out hustled tonight when we needed the ball,” Coppin State Head Coach Ron ‘Fang’ Mitchell said.
The Greyhounds (1-1) led by as many as eight in the first half, but a see-saw battle ensued with three ties and 12 lead changes before halftime. Etherly hit a pair of free throws with 1-minute, 49-seconds left before the break to put Loyola up 31-30, but Michael Harper knocked down a jumper for the Eagles, and they led 32-31 at halftime.
Loyola charged out of the locker room, scoring 10 of the first 11 points in the second half, going ahead by eight on a Walker lay-up2:49 into the period.
The Greyhounds extended their lead to 13, 55-42, on two Walker free throws at 10:27, cut Coppin State cut it back to single-digits two possessions later.
Coppin State trailed by seven, 62-55, on a Michael Murray layup with 5:35 on the clock, but Olson knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, both from the same spot at the top left of the perimeter on Etherly ball-reversal assists, and Loyola was in front 68-57 with 4:51 to play.
The Eagles promptly scored six in a row, four by Harper and two by Murray, to cut Loyola’s advantage back to 68-63, but Walker stemmed the tide momentarily with two more free throws with 2:57 on the clock.
Tony Gallo, who scored 17 in the first half for Coppin State but managed just six in the second, made 1-of-2 from the free-throw line at2:13 to make it 70-66 Loyola, but a driving Cormier layup 16 ticks later pushed Loyola’s lead back to six.
Murray, however, converted a steal into a fast-break layup for Coppin State, and the Eagles were down by just four again, 72-68, with 71 seconds remaining.
Walker and Cormier both made 1-of-2 free throws on theGreyhounds’ next two possessions, and after Gallo missed a 3-pointer and Cormier made 1-of-2 after being fouled on the rebound, Coppin State was down seven with 23 ticks left.
Gallo missed a layup attempt, and Etherly converted on an old-fashioned 3-point play to seal the win.
Walker finished with 15, while Olson and Drummond each had 10 for the Greyhounds. Gallo led all players with 23 points, and Harper added 18.
The Greyhounds are back in action on Thursday night with another cross-town match-up. They travel to Catonsville, Md., for a 7 o’clock game at UMBC that will be televised on MASN.
Leave a Reply