Jan. 30, 2006

Final Stats |  Quotes

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.-Junior Will Whittington (Kingwood, Tx.) nailed five 3-pointers on his way to 22 points, leading the Marist men's basketball squad to a 86-78 wire-to-wire win over Loyola Monday evening at the McCann Center. Marist, winners of its last eight and 11 of its past 13, improved to 13-6 overall and 7-4 in the MAAC, while Loyola dropped to 11-8 overall and 5-6 in the league. The eight-game winning streak is the longest winning streak for the program since the Red Foxes won their first eight games of the 1998-99 campaign.

Senior Carl Hood (Houston, Tx.) scored 14 points, while drawing the top defensive assignment on Loyola guard Andre Collins. Collins tallied a game-high 30 points for the Greyhounds, but missed 16 field goal attempts, including seven 3-point attempts. Junior Jared Jordan (Hartford, Conn.), who was named MAAC Co-Player of the Week Monday afternoon, tallied his fourth double-double with 13 points and 11 assists. Jordan entered the game second in the nation in assists (8.1) and minutes (38.6). He also recorded five steals, while redshirt sophomore Ryan Stilphen had a team-high seven rebounds.

Shane James also posted 12 points, while Freddie Stanback and Brad Farrell led the Greyhounds with seven boards. Collins led Loyola with three assists.

Loyola struggled finishing at the rim for most of the contest, but converted 16 second chance points to Marist's three. The Greyhounds also outrebounded Marist on the offensive glass 15 to four.

Marist came out firing in the first half, pushing its lead to the largest of the game (18, 35-17) on a layup by sophomore Shae McNamara (Milwaukee, Wisc.).

With the Red Foxes holding a 16-point advantage at the 18:03 mark of the second half, Loyola ran off a 30-17 run over the following 10:48 to cut the Red Foxes' lead to 65-62 at the 7:15 mark. However, Whittington nailed another 3-pointer on the next possession and the two teams traded baskets down the stretch.

Marist finished the game, shooting a scorching 59.1 percent (26-for-44), while Loyola finished at 41.3 percent (26-for-63). Both teams shot well from 3-point range with Marist holding a slight edge by hitting 55 percent (11-for-20) to the Greyhounds' 50 percent (8-for-16). Loyola shot 75 percent from the line (18-for-24), while Marist hit on 65.7 percent (23-for-35).

This season, Marist is 9-2 when it scores first, 11-3 when it leads at the half, and 13-1 when it leads with five minutes to go.

Marist will look to capture its ninth straight victory with its third straight home game against Saint Peter's on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.