BALTIMORE, MD – The Saint Peter's College Peacocks (4-16, 3-6 MAAC) dropped their third straight contest this afternoon, 65-54 at the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds (14-5, 7-2 MAAC). Loyola used a 12-1 in the first and a 13-3 run in the second half to take a 19-point lead and never looked back. Darius Conley led Saint Peter's with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Loyola won the tip and scored on their first possession, but Saint Peter's scored the next eight points, including five from Chris Prescott to take an 8-2 lead with 16:23 to play in the first half. The Greyhounds then scored seven straight to take the lead back, 9-8 at the 14:39 mark.
The Peacocks used a 7-2 spurt to take a 15-11 lead, but Loyola quickly tied the game at 15 at the 11:30 mark. Saint Peter's again took a five-point lead at 20-15, but again the Greyhounds responded and this time used a 12-1 run to take a 27-21 lead at the 4:16 mark. The Peacocks got the deficit to 27-24, but Loyola used an 8-2 run to take their largest lead at 35-25 and went into the break with a 36-27 lead.
Prescott had eight points, while Conley had six for the Peacocks. Erik Etherly led all scorers with 13 points for Loyola. Saint Peter's shot 50% from the field, while Loyola shot 41.9%. The difference in the first half was on the boards, which the Greyhounds controlled 18-11, including nine offensive rebounds and 11 second chance points. Loyola also scored eight points on six Peacocks turnovers, while turning over the ball just twice.
Loyola picked up where they left off to start the second, using a 13-3 run to take their largest lead at 49-30 with 13:09 to play in the second half. The Peacocks used a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to 10 points at 52-42 at the 9:30 mark. Loyola would not relent and scored the next seven points to go back up by 17 points at 59-42 with 4:24 to play. Saint Peter's could only get as close as 11 points for the remainder of the half, which was the final margin.
Chris Burke added 11 points for Saint Peter's on 5-8 from the field. Etherly led all scorers with 19 points. The Peacocks and Greyhounds both shot over 41% from the field, but Loyola controlled the boards 33-21. Both teams committed 12 turnovers.
Saint Peter's continues on the road on Thursday night as they travel to face Rider for a 7pm tip-off in Lawrenceville.
