Courtesy of LoyolaGreyhounds.com
BALTIMORE — Andre Walker drove the right side of the lane and laid the ball of the glass to provide the winning layup as Loyola University Maryland rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat visiting Lehigh University, 51-50, on Wednesday night in Patriot League action.
The Mountain Hawks held Loyola to just one of its last 14 first-half shots, and Lehigh took a 29-18 lead into the locker room, but the Greyhounds retook the lead midway through the second frame.
Lehigh (3-11 overall, 1-2 Patriot League), the preseason Patriot League favorite, went up 50-49 with 49.3 seconds left on an Austin Price layup, and Loyola misfired on an interior shot attempt.
Tim Kempton came down with the rebound for the Mountain Hawks and was fouled, but he missed the front end of one-and-one at the free-throw line with 22.2 ticks left, and Jarred Jones grabbed the defensive rebound.
The Greyhounds (4-10, 3-0) called timeout, and after the break, Walker worked around a high screen and fought through traffic to score the winning basket with 4.2 seconds remaining.
Lehigh called a timeout of its own after the Walker score, but Tyler Jenkins’ runner at the buzzer was blocked by Jarred Jones to secure the win.
Jones finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Walker led all scorers with 18 points, and he had game-highs of six assists and two steals.
Loyola opened the game and led by as many as four in the first 10 minutes, but Lehigh went up 13-11 on two Price free throws at 9:11. Eric Laster tied the game 61 seconds later on a paint basket, but Lehigh scored the next seven points and was ahead 20-13 on a Kyle Leufroy fast-break basket at 5:05.
Cam Gregory took a long outlet pass by Walker to score on the break at 2:28, narrowing the gap to 22-18, but his basket was the last Loyola would score in the first half.
Lehigh closed the frame on a 16-5 run, scoring the last seven to lead by 11 at halftime.
Jones scored the first four points of the second half, and a Tyler Hubbard 18-foot jumper at 16:44 got Loyola within five, 31-26. Kempton responded with a similar distance shot on Lehigh’s end, but two possessions later, Nevell Provo ducked behind a screen with the shot clock winding down and nailed a 3-pointer to pull Loyola within three, 33-30, with 14:57 left in regulation.
Neither Lehigh, nor the Greyhounds scored for more than two minutes until a Kempton layup at 12:52 broke the stalemate.
Walker scored off a drive 28 seconds later, and Hubbard made a three after a Kempton missed basket to tie the score at 35-35 with just over 12 minutes to play.
Chancellor Barnard then shot free down the lane on a baseline out-of-bounds play, caught a Walker pass and scored in one motion at11:08 to put Loyola back in front, 37-35, for the first time since it led 11-9.
The Mountain Hawks tied the game moments later on two Leufroy free throws, but a Walker three at 10:36 staked Loyola to a 40-37 advantage. Lehigh, however, scored the next four points to lead by one on a Jesse Chuku layup at 8:34.
Barnard made 1-of-2 at the charity stripe, and Jones converted a pair at 7:15 to push the Loyola to 43-41. After Kempton made 1-of-2 at the line for Lehigh, Walker hit Barnard for an alley-oop dunk with 6:34 remaining to put Loyola up three.
Two Barnard free throws at 5:25 gave the Greyhounds a 47-42 advantage, but Lehigh scored six of the next seven points to tie the game at 48-48 on a Kahron Ross three from the top with 2:14 remaining.
Franz Rassman made 1-of-2 at the line for Loyola to give the Greyhounds a one-point advantage with 1:52 left, but Price’s layup with less than 50 ticks remaining shot the Mountain Hawks in front for the final time.
The teams combined to make less than one-third of their baskets, but Loyola shot 42.3 percent from the field in the second half and held Lehigh to 28 percent in the same stanza.
Loyola also made 11-of-16 free throws, while the Mountain Hawks misfired on 11 of their 26 in the loss.
Kempton turned in a double-double for Lehigh with 10 points and a game-best 13 rebounds, and Leufroy chipped in 10 points. The Mountain Hawks entered the game averaging 14.9 assists per game, but they finished with just five in the game to go with nine turnovers.
In addition to Walker’s 18 and Jones’ 10 points, Barnard finished with seven points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
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