BALTIMORE, Md. - Josko Alujevic's layup with :09 left lifted Loyola College past VMI, 70-69, in college basketball action Wednesday night at Reitz Arena in Baltimore, Md.
The Keydets, playing the last of three consecutive road games, took the lead 69-68 when sophomore guard Fred Robinson nailed his third 3-pointer with :25 left. Loyola called time out with 20 seconds left, and produced the game winner when Alujevic tipped in a missed Linton Hinds running jump shot with 9.4 seconds left, putting the Greyhounds up for good.
The Keydets had chances on their last two possessions, but Robinson was called out of bounds before launching a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left. The Keydets fouled Shane James with 3.0 seconds left, and rebounded the missed front end of the one-and-one with 2.3 seconds and called time-out, but couldn't hit the game winner when Matt Coward's running 17-footer ricocheted off the left side of the backboard as the buzzer sounder.
The Keydets trailed, 56-47, when Loyola's Brad Ferrell hit a driving layup with 10:16 left, but the VMI answered with a 15-3 run over the next five minutes and took a 62-49 lead on a Matt Coward free throw that followed two technical foul shots by the Keydets' Reggie Williams at the 5:42 mark. The lead changed once and the contest was tied once more (66-66) before Robinson's 3-pointer put the Keydets ahead for the final time on the evening.
Loyola freshman guard Brad Ferrell led all scorers with 21 points and got help from Greyhounds Alujevic and Freddie Stanback, who each scored 12 points.
Williams paced VMI with his second straight 18-point outing and senior center Tim Allmond added 11 points and six rebounds while Robinson finished with 10 points.
Loyola hit seven of its first nine shots from the floor in the second half and finished the frame 61.5% from the field in the second half - 53.7% for the game. VMI hit 43.9% from the game but connected on just three 3-pointers (all by Robinson) in 16 attempts beyond the arc.
The loss sent VMI (5-5) to its third straight setback heading into Saturday's Big South opener at home against Charleston Southern at 1:00 p.m.
Loyola (2-9) won its first game in a month and opened its four-game homestand by snapping a four-game skid.
Coward, the Big South's leading assists man, dished out 10 assists for his second 10+ game of the year.
The Keydets fell behind 13-1 to open the game, only to come storming back witha 17-3 run over four minutes to lead 21-17 with 8:45 left in the first half. The game was tied 32-32 at the break.
VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "We had a chance. We made a bad decision on an inbounds pass and didn't get the look we wanted. We were still in good shape with nine seconds left and they can't foul you, but I don't know why in the world we threw the ball where we threw the ball. I told this team that it's going to be tough all year. I thought we missed five charges. I thought our offense was good enough, but we didn't shoot the three-pointer well. We shot the free throw well, but not the three. We put ourselves in a hole and climbed out of it pretty well a couple of times but then we lacked discipline at the very end. Some guys got to come through for us. 20 turnovers, that just not good enough with the kind of turnovers we had."
