Canisius

• For the bulk of the field, entrance to the tournament is based on building a strong season-long resume. This year, however, for Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Canisius, earning a spot meant finding a spark at just the right time. The Golden Griffins (6-7, 5-3 MAAC), who are set to play No. 1 seed Loyola on Saturday, suffered a discouraging four-game losing streak during the middle of the season, capped by a 14-2 loss to conference power Siena. The team was racked by injuries, especially at defense and the faceoff position, forcing coach Randy Mearns to experiment with his roster.

The NCAA selection committee's decision to award the No. 1 seed to Loyola for the upcoming NCAA tournament was only the third time the program had received the top overall seed and first since 1999. Coach Charley Toomey said the No. 1 seed was a suitable reward for a team that had set a program record for wins in a season (14) and tied the best start in school history (12-0). “This is a tremendous feather in the cap for the young men in my locker room,” he said late Sunday night after the bracket had been unveiled.

Due to deadlines, my conversations with Loyola coach Charley Toomey, Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala and Maryland coach John Tillman were relatively brief. But here are their initial impressions of their opponents in the first round of the upcoming NCAA tournament. Toomey on Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Canisius (6-7): “My first impression is that my assistant coaches better be home doing their homework right now as I'm in Indy [due to his duties as a member of the tournament selection committee, which met in Indianapolis]

ON THE SITE... Second fatal accident in recent days on Jarrettsville Pike : An unidentified victim died at the scene of a crash Sunday night, the fourth person to die on the same stretch of road since Friday. Canton fire shows gaps in information for responders : Firefighters were initially unaware that 8,000 gallons of dangerous chemicals were inside a burning warehouse April 22 because it lacks a unified database of potential hazards. Preakness weather forecast brightens again : AccuWeather is predicting a high of 80 degrees and mostly sunny skies May 19. Loyola earns top overall seed in NCAA men's lacrosse tournament :  The 14-1 Greyhounds, who captured their first Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament crown, will meet Canisius in the first round.

After setting a school record for wins and matching another program mark for best start, the Loyola men's lacrosse team reaped a coveted reward: the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament. The 14-1 Greyhounds, who captured their first Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament crown and are ranked third in the latest Sun rankings, will meet Canisius (6-7), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion, in the first round. The game is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. at Ridley Athletic Complex.

Joe Boylan was sitting with Jimmy Patsos at last Saturday's Loyola-Duke lacrosse game when the former athletic director asked the man he had hired as the school's basketball coach eight years ago if he had any preference as to where Greyhounds would play their first NCAA tournament game in 18 years. "Jimmy wanted to go to Pittsburgh because our fans could get there - and then he said, 'I've set it up for the team to go to the Andy Warhol Museum,'" Boylan recalled Monday. "How many coaches whose teams are going to the NCAA tournament are thinking about that?

Behind two goals and two assists from John Conneely and a strong defensive effort, the host Penn men's lacrosse team got its first win of the season by handing No. 12 North Carolina its second straight loss, 10-6, on Tuesday. The Tar Heels (4-2) lost to Lehigh, 9-8, on Saturday. The Quakers (1-2) will play their fourth straight game against a nationally ranked opponent Saturday when No. 14 Villanova visits Franklin Field at 3p.m. No. 1 Virginia 16, Vermont 10: Steele Stanwick (Loyola)

Freshman Kelvin Parker scored a career high 20 points to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 64-51 victory over visiting Saint Francis (Pa.) at Knott Arena. Trailing 29-25 at the half, the Mountaineers (6-16, 4-7 Northeast Conference) outscored the Red Flash (5-17, 4-7 NEC) 39-22 in the second half to pull away for the win. Mount St. Mary's opened the second half on a 16-5 run to take the lead for good at 43-36 with 12:12 left in the game. Parker had eight consecutive points during the run, including back-to-back three-pointers that extended the lead to 39-35.

Loyola held Canisius scoreless for the final 8:02 of the game and pulled away for a 70-52 victory Sunday afternoon in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball.   The victory, coupled with a win Friday night at Niagara, gave the Greyhounds (16-5, 9-2 MAAC) their first-ever road sweep of the Buffalo-area schools since joining the league in 1989-90.   "Last night, I went to the Buffalo symphony, where they have a great conductor, Joann Falletta, and that is what we talked about before the game," coach Jimmy Patsos said after the win. "I told them that it is the whole orchestra that matters, not just one instrument.

Justin Drummond scored six of his game-high 21 points during a 15-2 Loyola run and the visiting Greyhounds beat Niagara, 67-55, Friday night. Marvin Jordan made one of two at the free-throw line to pull the Purple Eagles (9-13 overall, 4-6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) within a point, and a 3-pointer by Antoine Mason gave Niagara a 46-44 lead with just over eight minutes to play. Drummond tied the game with a layup 26 seconds later and made two free throws with 7:12 on the clock to put Loyola (15-5, 8-2)