USAFA, Colo. –
Donald Hand Jr. dropped the first 20-piece of the season Wednesday afternoon in a 107-93 loss to Air Force. Hand Jr. finished with 25 points and made five threes for the Ramblers.
With the loss, Loyola sits at 2-1 on the year.
How It Happened
The Falcons heated up from three on their first bucket of the game and pushed an early lead to 9-2 with back-to-back from deep by the 18:08 mark.
Elias Rapieque scored his first points in the Maroon & Gold before
Xavier Amos led the Ramblers on a 6-0 run.
Dayan Nessah scored the final four points of the stretch that tied things up 16-16 by the 11:49 media timeout.
Loyola took its first lead on a three from
Ryan Agarwal at the 11:17 mark, but Air Force regained control and made their seventh three by the 8:16 mark. Loyola went cold and made one of their last eight into the four-minute media timeout. Air Force closed the half on a 7-0 run to lead 50-35 at the break.
Air Force outscored Loyola 15-5 by the 17:21 mark of the second to push its lead to 28.
Guillaume Grotzinger snapped a 15-0 run with a corner three. Ten of the Falcons' points in the half's opening 2:30 were on four Loyola turnovers. Loyola followed up with a 19-4 run over a four-and-a-half-minute stretch. Hand Jr. scored five straight to get Loyola within 13 with 13:33 to go.
The Falcons didn't let up, but
Dayton Williams would cut the lead down to 13 again by the 8:06 mark.
Malick Diallo got Loyola within 12 by the five-minute mark. Two minutes later, the Ramblers scored seven points in a 20 second stretch with a bit of full court pressure that forced back-to-back turnovers for buckets. Jeffrey scored five straight, while Grotzinger cut the lead to nine with 3:07 to go. It would be the closest Loyola could get, and Air Force won, 107-93.
Inside the Box Score
- Hand Jr. had a team-leading 25 points on 9-17 with five threes. It's the first 20-point game by a Rambler this season.
- Grotzinger finished with 14 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and four steals.
- Amos recorded 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two blocks off the bench.
- Jason Schofield and Dayan Nessah added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
- Schofield grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.
- Loyola dominated the paint, 50-28, and the bench put up 53 points.
- Air Force went 15-of-29 from three and 30-of-41 at the line.
Up Next
Loyola closes the road trip at Colorado State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
