Loyola falls to Fairfield after knocking off Iona; Etherly earns MAAC honors

When things go bad, things go bad.

That was what coach Jimmy Patsos acknowledged on Sunday night after the Greyhounds (19-6, 12-3) were run out of Reitz Arena by Fairfield (15-10,10-4).

Just two days after taking down Iona for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, in what was Patsos' biggest win in his eight years in Baltimore; the Greyhounds fell to the Stags, 68-51.

"When you play bad, that's the way it goes," Patsos said.

Loyola was pretty much a no-show from opening tip.

"I was surprised by our lack of effort," Patsos said. "I thought they out-hustled us."

The Greyhounds were out-hustled, out-worked and pretty much out-everything-ed on Sunday afternoon.

Aside from a 4-2 lead in the games opening stages, Loyola never was up and trailed by as many as 24 late in the game.

The Hounds lacked execution on both ends of the court and did not look like a first place team vying for a NCAA Tournament bid at any point.

"We drew a play up in the timeout, and did exactly the opposite of what we drew up. As a coach I'm very disappointed in that," Patsos added.

After scoring a season-high 87 points on Friday, the Hounds were held to a season-low of 51 on Sunday. Loyola shot just 17.4 percent from the floor in the second half and was held to just 13 field goals in the game.

Balanced scoring led the Stags as they had four players in double figures compared to just two for Loyola. Rakim Sanders, a transfer from Boston College, looked like the dominating player Fairfield expected him to be at several points in the ball game. The 6-5 senior finished with a team-high 13 points and was 6 of 12 from the field.

Loyola juniors Bobby Olson and Erik Etherly each had 17 points to lead all scorers, but no one else in a Greyhound uniform provided any help.

"We can learn from it," Olson said. "But we have to move on, we can't dwell on it."

The team's leading scorer, sophomore Dylon Cormier, was held to just two points and could not get anything going on the offensive end of the court.

Freshman point guard RJ Williams was held scoreless and did not register an assist. Williams went down hard after a missed layup on a fast break and had to be looked at by trainers. He injured his right knee but was able to return to the ballgame.

Etherly was the only Greyhound to finish with more than four rebounds, leading the team with 9.

For his efforts this past week, the 6-7 junior was named the MAAC Player Of The Week. This is the second time this season that Etherly has received the honor. The big man averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds against Iona and Fairfield. Etherly played a key role in the Hounds win on Friday night. He scored 22 points and recorded 10 rebounds, both of which led the team.

Etherly and the Greyhounds still have a share of first place in the conference and return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to take on Marist.