Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
10-3, 1-1PL
Loyola Maryland
4-9, 0-2PL
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 36 | 41 | 77 |
| Loyola Maryland | 32 | 21 | 53 |
Second Half Run Pushes Men's Basketball Past Loyola
January 03, 2015 | Men's Basketball
The win improved Army to 10-3 on the season and 1-1 in Patriot League play. Loyola dipped to 4-9 overall and 0-2 in conference action.
Cox handed out six assists to direct Army's offense to a 43.5 percent (27-of-62) effort from the field. Army outrebounded Loyola 43-33, led by Kevin Ferguson's 11 and Tanner Plomb's 10. Ferguson and Plomb each scored eight points, Nathan Dodge had nine on the strength of three three-pointers and Milton Washington scored seven. The Black Knights forced Loyola into 17 turnovers, while only giving it away 12 times.
The Greyhounds received 14 points by Tyler Hubbard, Franz Rassman added 13 and Denzel Brito put in 11. Andre Walker handed out five assists and collected three steals, but turned the ball over eight times in the loss.
"I thought Dylan was terrific pushing the pace today," head coach Zach Spiker said. "Our captains led us, Mo Williams made big plays and defensively we did the things we always talk about doing and we made the simple plays in the second half."
The opening half featured five ties and seven lead changes and neither team led by more than five points before intermission. Trailing 31-29 with a little more than three minutes left, Wilson got going offensively and scored eight straight points and Army took a 36-32 lead into the locker room. The Patriot League's leading scorer had a quiet start, but finished the period with a pair at the line and then connected on consecutive threes to end up with 10 first-half points.
Wilson led Army's balanced offensive attack prior to the break, as Washington (7), Ferguson (6), Plomb (5) and Cox (5) each contributed to the cause. Dodge added one of Army's five first-half threes (5-of-14) to round out the scoring and the Black Knights had 17 points in the paint.
"Milt (Washington) gave us some very productive minutes and was great for us," Spiker continued. "We are not going to be the prettiest group, we aren't 100 percent and have had some injuries, but that is not going to stop us from accomplishing what we want to accomplish."
Army scored the first bucket of the second half to complete its 9-2 run when Cox fed Wilson on a backdoor cut for a reverse layup. Army led by six (36-32) when Loyola used a timeout at 17:52 as Army kept Loyola without a field goal for nearly six minutes ahead of Rassman's layup.
That basket started a 9-2 run for Loyola, which briefly gave the Greyhounds the lead before Morrison scored in the paint to put Army back in front at 42-41. A pair at the stripe by Cox, followed by a feed from the Army point guard to Plomb for a layup stretched the lead to five moments later.
After a pair on the other end by Walker, Mac Hoffman scored on a putback and was fouled. His free throw was good and Army was in front 49-43 at the 13-minute mark.
An Army miss and a Loyola turnover gave the ball back to Army. Washington broke Loyola's press and found Wilson wide open in the corner for three, then Mo Williams came up with a steal that led to a Wilson fastbreak layup for two more and Loyola was forced to call timeout with 11:34 to play. Army's 54-43 cushion was due in part to a 14-2 run.
"They started to press us and we took advantage by hitting some open shots," Spiker added.
After a Plomb free throw, Hubbard and Cox traded layups and then Dodge drained another triple when Ferguson kicked out of the low post to him in the opposite wing. Another Dodge trifecta, this time in the corner, extended Army's advantage to 63-45 with less than nine minutes left and punctuated Army's devastating 21-4 run that lasted 6:15.
"Our mindset was just to come out and get stops in the second half," Cox stated. "When we get stops and rebounds we are able to push the ball and transition and that's what gets us going. We focused on rebounding the basketball and a bunch of our guys stepped up and did that today."
The Black Knights scored 37 of the final 49 points and led by as many as 24 points in the victory.
Army returns home to Christl Arena on Wednesday evening to host Lehigh. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen on Patriot League Network or heard on the Army Sports Network.
Game Notes: Army has its first 10-3 start since the 1978-79 campaign. That year, Army opened the year 11-3 under Mike Krzyzewski ... Zach Spiker earned his sixth straight 10-win season and joined Bob Knight as the only Army coaches to win 10 games in six straight years ... the Black Knights collected their third straight win over Loyola and improved to 3-1 all-time against the Greyhounds ... Army moved to 5-1 on the road this season ... Army improved to 7-0 on the year when leading at halftime ... Army is 3-0 this season and 36-11 when holding opponents under 60 points during Spiker's tenure ... Loyola's 21 second-half points matched the lowest total for an Army opponent in any half this year (Marist).
