Feb. 28, 2008

Box Score

BALTIMORE - Junior guard Marquis Sullivan scored a career-high 28 points and senior guard Gerald Brown added 27 as Loyola completed the home portion of its schedule with an 88-77 MAAC victory Thursday night at Reitz Arena. The win was the fourth straight and 11th in their last 13 games and moved the Greyhounds alone into first place by a half-game as the remainder of the league plays its penultimate games on Friday.

"I thought this was a good all-around effort," fourth-year head coach Jimmy Patsos said following the contest. "When I got here, I said I would recruit Baltimore kids and our Baltimore kids scored 28 and 27 tonight. I thought Gerald Brown played his best defensive game of the year and Marquis really carried us in the first half with his shooting."

The Greyhounds never trailed and built a double-digit lead on the strength of an 18-4 run for a 26-8 lead with seven minutes remaining before halftime. Sullivan tallied 14 Loyola points during the stretch with four three-pointers and a pair of free throws. Another Sullivan three-pointer with 3:08 left gave the Greyhounds their largest lead at 38-15. The Westminster native finished with 20 points in the half as Loyola led 40-25 at the intermission.

Loyola started the second half on an 11-3 sprint. Senior forward Michael Tuck drained an elbow jumper and added four more points from the free-throw line. Brown hit a three-pointer during that stretch and scored 19 second-half points. A 10-2 run by the Golden Griffins brought Loyola's lead down to 59-46 with 12:40 left to play, but the `Hounds responded quickly and expanded the lead once again, leading 72-51 with just over seven minutes remaining. Brown and Tuck each added four during that run-Brown hit a long jumper after Loyola broke a full court press and also added two free throws. Canisius made one final attempt with a 9-0 run, but a baseline jumper from Sullivan put the game out of reach and led way to the final free throws.

Sullivan connected on 6-8 attempts from downtown and shot 8-9 from the stripe en route to his career high. Brown shot 9-14 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the free-throw line. Tuck added 16 points and collected five rebounds while freshman guard Brian Rudolph finished with 13 points and six assists-all five of his field goals coming in the paint off lay-ups.

"Jimmy wants me to come off the bench and be a scorer," Sullivan commented. "I was just trying to play really good defense and rebound and if I have my shot, to take it."

Loyola completes the regular season Sunday when the Greyhounds visit Marist for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff.