Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md. - Jamal Barney scored 22 of his game-high 24 points in the second half helping Loyola (13-16, 6-12) notch a 71-59 victory over the Manhattan men's basketball team on Sunday in the final game of the MAAC regular-season. Jaspers' guard Darryl Crawford led Manhattan (10-19, 4-14) with his third double-double of the season (21 points, 11 rebounds). The teams will meet again on Friday in the 2010 MAAC Tournament Opening Round at 7:30 p.m. at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. Manhattan will be #9 seed and Loyola has earned the #8 seed.
Manhattan used an 8-0 run to take a 9-6 advantage with 15:23 left in the first half after back-to-back buckets by Andrew Gabriel and Rico Pickett. The Greyhounds responded with an 8-1 run capped by Barney's only field goal of the first half to regain a 14-10 lead and Loyola would not trail again.
Crawford found his touch late in the opening stanza scoring 12 of his 15 first half points in the final 5:09. The scoring surge also represented 12 of the Jaspers' final 16 points of the first half to carry the team into the break down 35-32.
Manhattan fell behind by nine points early in the second half after Greyhounds' freshman forward Julius Brooks hit a lay up with 13:23 to go ahead 47-38. The Jaspers battled back outscoring Loyola 16-8 over the next six minutes to cut the deficit to 55-54. After a defensive stop, Manhattan missed on three shot opportunities, a lay up by Gabriel, a lay up by Nick Walsh and a jump shot by Crawford, which would have given the Jaspers the lead.
Dodging the bullet, Loyola scored 12 unanswered points with nine coming from Barney, including a 3-pointer at 2:09 to cap the surging at 67-54. Barney anchored the Greyhounds bench which produced 37 points. He was 9-for-18 from the field with nine rebounds.
Gabriel was the only other Jasper to post double-figures as he finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Brandon Adams added seven points and six rebounds. Manhattan freshman George Beamon scored six points on 3-for-4 shooting off the bench.
The Jaspers struggled with a lackluster 3-point shooting performance going 2-for-14 (14.3%) from downtown. Manhattan was outrebounded 49-37 as Loyola's Shane Walker grabbed a game-high 14 boards.
The winner of the #9 Manhattan versus #8 Loyola rematch on Friday will earn a date with top-seeded Siena on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the MAAC Championships Quarterfinals.
