Loyola

Loyola's basketball team reached the NCAA men's tournament last season, while Towson struggled mightily in the regular season. The Tigers have improved this year, but the Greyhounds were a little better as they secured a 65-53 victory Monday night at Reitz Arena. Loyola won without second-leading scorer Erik Etherly. Etherly, the preseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's Player of the Year, is day-to-day after he injured his shoulder in practice on Friday. The Greyhounds (6-1)

After handling then-No. 8 Duke, 13-8, last Saturday, Loyola has become this week's darling in the media, rising in many rankings, including The Sun's version where the Greyhounds moved from 17th to eighth. It's a testament to the team's play in opening the season with five consecutive wins, but it hasn't dominated the conversation among the players, according to coach Charley Toomey. “Obviously, the guys are excited,” he said Wednesday. “They're playing well, but that's why they're excited.

Thanks to Saturday night's 12-9 victory over No. 10 and two-time reigning Eastern College Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champion Denver, Loyola (11-0) vaulted to the No. 2 spot in The Sun's rankings and have a chance to match the program's best start in school history with a win at Hobart this Saturday. The Greyhounds were the recipients of a lot of love sent in their direction, but coach Charley Toomey did his best to keep his players grounded by downplaying the significance of the team's first victory over the Pioneers in three attempts.

Four proved to be the magic number for Loyola at Wednesday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championship race. Loyola won its fourth consecutive team title by four points, while Tyler Spear became the fourth straight Loyola runner to win the race. No. 4 Loyola put five runners in the top 15 to edge out No. 7 Calvert Hall for the title in the race at Oregon Ridge Park. Spear led almost from the start and no one was able to catch up to the junior as he finished in 15 minutes, 58.4 seconds to beat out McDonogh's Mikey Singer (16:10.1)

Alex Porter remembers sitting in the stands at Loyola when he was just 8 years old, watching the Dons work their way to another Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference swimming championship. The camaraderie, trust and athleticism among the swimmers resonated with Porter, who wanted nothing more than to play a key role with one of the region's most dominant programs. Porter realized his goal and his record-setting performance Saturday night helped the Dons win their 18th consecutive championship with 411.50 points, ahead of McDonogh (341.

Loyola has hired Brant Hall, the Dons' offensive coordinator for the last nine seasons, as its new head football coach. Hall will succeed Brian Abbott who stepped down in January after 10 years, four Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference titles and six wins over Calvert Hall in the Turkey Bowl. The Dons starting quarterback from 1995-1997, Hall went on to play at Lehigh, where he started for two years and was a two-time All-Patriot League quarterback.

Jamal Barney (Southwestern) scored 24 points, including nine during a key second-half run, to lead host Loyola past Manhattan, 71-59. Andrew Gabriel 's two free throws brought the Jaspers (10-19, 4-13 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) within 55-54 with 7:33 to go, but Barney sparked a 12-0 run for the Greyhounds (13-16, 6-12 ), capped by his 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer with 2:06 left. Loyola ended a four-game losing streak and earned the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament, which starts Friday; Loyola will face the No. 9-seeded Jaspers.

Towson and Loyola will meet for the 54th time on Saturday, and Towson holds a one-game lead in the series. But for Loyola coach Charley Toomey, the Towson game might be the biggest game on the schedule.   "It's big, really big," said Toomey, a Loyola goalie from 1987 to 1990. "Whenever we play Towson, I get a lot of phone calls from guys in my era. We play a lot of big games now like Notre Dame or Michigan, but back in my day, Towson was the biggest game on the schedule.

The senior dominated the 170-pound class at the Mount Mat Madness tournament at UMBC this weekend, pinning all five of his opponents in the first period to become the Dons' first-ever individual champion at the prestigious event. Schuster, who is ranked No. 2 in the weight class by the Maryland State Wrestling Association, closed out the impressive outing with a 57-second fall against Huntingtown's No. 7-ranked Colton Rowe in Saturday's title bout. He is 14-0 on the season with all of his wins coming by pins - 13 in the first period.

Cass Cursaro , a member of the Australian national team that took the silver in the 2009 Women's World Cup, has been added to Loyola's roster. Cursaro, a 5-foot-11 midfielder, scored three goals and scooped up nine ground balls as a teammate of Greyhounds coach Jen Adams at the World Cup. Two years before, she led the Under-19 Australian team to the silver, while playing for the Brighton Bombers Lacrosse Club, the same club that produced Adams and a third of the 2009 Australian national team.