By Patrick Taylor Sports Editor
The Loyola Men's Basketball team got it's season started on the right foot, defeating Vermont at Reitz Arena by a score of 79-66 in front of a packed house.
The Hounds were led by senior guard Brett Harvey, who dropped 23 points on the Catamounts behind lights out shooting from three point land.
However, it wasn't just Harvery's shooting that propelled the Hounds, it was the all around team play and the fact that everybody played an important role.
"It was a ten man team effort tonight," said Coach Patsos. "This is as deep a team as I've ever had."
The team effort part was obvious to everyone in attendance, with Hounds doing well to cover each other on defense and fight for loose balls.
There were two crucial plays in the game when Loyola completely outhustled the Catamounts that stick out.
At one point, Robert Olson, a freshman guard from Maryland, went flying in to the front row fans to help Loyola keep possession of the ball.
Later in the game, it was senior guard Tony Lewis who sacrificed his body for the better of the team, hitting the hardwood off of a jumpball to retrieve the loose ball for Loyola.
"Last year came fown to loose balls," said Jamal Barney. "Those plays won us the game tonight."
Brett Harvey was quick to share those sentiments.
"Those types of plays are great because they give us an extra possession," said Harvey, who shot an astounding 5-7 from the three point line.
Not only did it come down to loose balls, but it came down to the fans. The support was tremendous, and that was something Coach Patsos was quick to comment on.
"There was no way we win this game without the students and without the help of SGA and Kat Kienle," said Patsos. "The Vermont coach came up to me after the game and said he couldn't believe how much harder it was to play here from two years ago."
With Loyola's up-tempo fast break play, fans should love coming to watch the Hounds play. Loyola utilized the fast break well, and the depth of the bench showed as the Hounds were able to put in fresh legs whenever needed.
"I'm a press and running coach," said Patsos. "It's good for the fans and it's good for recruiting."
One player who deserves a lot of credit is Jawaan Wright, who came off of the bench to provide Loyola with eleven points and seven rebounds.
"That's as good of a game as he could play," said Patsos.
The highlight of the game came in the second half when junior guard Brian Rudolph lobbed a pass for Anthony Winbush to slam down for the alley-oop. Winbush would finish with 16 for the Hounds.
After coming off of a strong win, the Hounds had to travel to West Virginia to face the ninth ranked Mounaineers.
Loyola was able to give West Virginia a run for their money with the score tied at half, but the Mountaineers pulled away in the second and ended up winning by a score of 83-60.
West Virginia is a strong team that returned most of it's players that went to the NCAA Tournament just last year, but Loyola played them well in the first half, shooting 58 percent.
After the half, however, that all changed. West Virginia picked up their tempo on defense and crashed the boards as if their lives depended on it.
"Their defense got better," said Patsos. "In the second hald, they picked up their defense and we ran out of gas."
It's understandable that the Hounds ran out of gas seeing as how they were coming off of a high tempo game on Friday night.
The Hounds new they were in for a difficult matchup being hosted by a top ten team, but for a while it looked as though they could pull off the upset.
The Hounds will travel to UMBC on Wednesday night to play the Retrievers at 7:30 p.m.
When asked about the fans for Wednesday, Patsos showed why he is a favorite in the Dog Pound.
"We would love to have them [at UMBC] if anybody could come," said Patsos. "I'll tell you what, I just can't wait to get back in front of the fans at the next home game."
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