Greyhounds

For at least one half, Loyola men's lacrosse coach Charley Toomey got a good, long look at what his team's defense could be, and he liked what he saw. Buoyed by the return of senior short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins, the No. 15 Greyhounds locked down host Georgetown in a 13-8 win before an announced 808 at Multi-Sport Field on Wednesday night. The Hoyas (3-4) had scored 16 times in an eight-goal thumping of Providence on Saturday, but they got just one goal in the first half as Loyola (6-2)

Loyola men's basketball coach Jimmy Patsos minced no words when leading scorer Dylon Cormier was shut out in the first half Tuesday against Boston University. "I said 'Dylon, they're wearing your jersey [in the stands] and you have no points,'" Patsos said. "He said 'I got it.'" Did he ever. Cormier scored all 16 of his points in the last 11 minutes as the Greyhounds rallied past Boston University, 70-63, before an announced 984 at Reitz Arena in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer will be a game-time decision for No. 15 Loyola's road game at Georgetown Wednesday night, coach Charley Toomey confirmed Tuesday morning. The senior attackman did not play in the team's 13-7 victory over Air Force last Saturday and attempted just three shots (scoring once) in a 9-8 loss to then-unranked Duke on March 8 after suffering an unspecified injury in an 8-6 win against Bellarmine on March 2. Toomey described Sawyer, who has registered 13 goals and two assists in six games, as “day-to-day.” “Because he had an injury and was unable to play, we just felt like staying in class and staying back here was probably the right thing to do rather than take him out of class just to travel,” Toomey said of the decision of traveling to Denver without Sawyer last weekend.

Matt Tilley hasn't had much free time outside of practice this year. In fact, Gilman baseball coach Larry Sheets said the senior has taken just two days off since August -- both between the football and basketball seasons and none between the basketball and baseball seasons. Such is the life of a three-sport athlete. And he hasn't just participated in football, basketball and baseball -- he has excelled in all three. He played wide receiver and free safety for the Gilman football team that won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference last fall, served as captain for the basketball team that was one win away from winning its second consecutive MIAA B Conference title in the winter and stars all over the field for the No. 10 Greyhounds in baseball.

For a team that has struggled with possession this season, the Loyola women's lacrosse team certainly set the right tone early in Saturday's game against James Madison. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, they could not sustain it beyond the first half. The No. 12 Greyhounds scored the first four goals and shut out James Madison before halftime, but the Dukes seized the momentum early in the second half and dominated possession in overtime for a 9-8 victory at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex.

Despite several reports that have listed Loyola basketball coach Jimmy Patsos as a candidate to fill the opening at Siena, Patsos said Thursday he has not spoken to anyone at the school in Albany, N.Y. “I'm the coach at Loyola,” Patsos said. “I haven't been contacted by anybody.” Siena, a former rival to Loyola in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, recently fired coach Mitch Buonaguro after an 8-24 season. Patsos, meanwhile, led Loyola to a second straight 20-win season.

In the aftermath of last Friday night's 9-8 loss to a then-unranked Duke team, Loyola invited scrutiny about whether it had the talent and will to match last year's squad that captured the university's first Division I national title. The constant comparisons to last season, however, are not welcomed by coach Charley Toomey. “I'm only going to talk about this team. We've got to stop comparing this team to last year,” Toomey said Tuesday morning. “… Right now, I really believe there's enough talent and enough leadership in our locker room that we just need to take baby steps every day and continue to gel and get ready for a March-April-May run. It starts this weekend with Air Force, which is a very talented team.

Leading wire-to-wire, sixth-seeded Manhattan held off a furious Loyola charge and defeated the Greyhounds, 55-52, to advance to the semifinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament in a game that started Saturday night and ended Sunday morning. The Jaspers (13-17) moved on to face No. 7 Fairfield, which upset No. 2 Rider before the third-seeded Greyhounds, the defending tournament champions, also went down. No. 1 Niagara and No. 4 Iona will play in the other semifinal.

When Loyola and Duke met last year, the Blue Devils were the top 10 visitor paying a visit to the top 20 Greyhounds. Times have changed as No. 4 Loyola will meet an unranked Duke squad Friday night in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils have limped their way to a 2-4 record, dropping their last two contests to No. 14 Penn on Feb. 22 and No. 1 Maryland last Saturday. Still, Greyhounds coach Charley Toomey has no intentions of overlooking a Duke program that has been to the last six Final Fours.

There's a chance, and a good one at that, Loyola forward Erik Etherly played his final game at Reitz Arena on Sunday. He certainly made it memorable. Etherly scored a career-high 30 points, including a game-sealing dunk in the final minute, to lead the Greyhounds to a 63-61 victory over Manhattan to clinch the No. 3 seed in next weekend's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. "I knew this would possibly be the last home game we'd have here, and I didn't want to go out with a loss," Etherly said.