Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
BLOOMINGTON – For parts of the first half, tasks like inbounding the ball proved difficult for Indiana. For parts of the second half, the Hoosiers couldn’t be stopped.
But the inability to put two good halves together cost IU.
Loyola of Maryland let a 24-point lead slip away but still had enough left to rally and beat the Hoosiers 72-67 Tuesday at Assembly Hall.
Brett Harvey made a three-pointer while getting fouled, giving the Greyhounds a one-point lead with 1:51 to go. That would be the last basket of the game. Loyola (6-5) made four free throws in the final two minutes, while the Hoosiers missed some key foul shots down the stretch to fall to 5-6.
“Everybody wants it back as soon as possible, but there is no secret formula, there is no magic wand. We are in a restoration project, and we learned a hard lesson (Tuesday),” IU coach Tom Crean said.
Jeremiah Rivers led IU with 15 points. The junior guard also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals. But he missed two free throws with a chance to tie with 37 seconds remaining.
“That’s all I’ve been working on in the past few months,” he said. “They’re going to come. It just happened. I don’t have any explanation for it.”
Harvey, who had 25 points, made two free throws on the other end to ice the game for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference school.
“We made a million lucky shots in the first half,” Loyola of Maryland coach Jimmy Patsos said. “… We were fortunate to have a good first half, that’s when we were lucky to pull the game out.”
Last December, Lipscomb fought back from a 21-point deficit to shock IU 74-69. This year, Indiana had to make the major comeback.
Loyola scored the game’s first 15 points. The Hoosiers had 10 turnovers before scoring.
The Hoosiers had a trouble getting the ball inbounding. And when they did, the Greyhounds would trap to force a mistake (IU finished with 23 turnovers). Robert Olson’s three-pointer with 1:38 left in the first half gave the Greyhounds their largest lead, 24 points, at 46-22.
IU trailed by 20 with 14:10 left. Sparked by a press, the Hoosiers went on a 15-0 run.
Indiana took its first lead, at 64-62, when Rivers made a jumper with 3:48 left. IU maintained a two-point edge until Harvey’s four-point play.
“Once again, it’s us not putting two halves together,” said guard Verdell Jones III, who had 14 points. “It’s just very frustrating right now. Hopefully better things will come.”
