Winning Streak

  Chris Layne took the ball after a Loyola timeout, dodged down the middle of the field and sent a high-to-low shot into the right side of the net with 4.4 seconds left to propel the top-ranked Greyhounds to a season-opening 9-8 win over host Delaware (1-2) on Saturday. Loyola was up 7-4 before the Blue Hens scored three goals in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, tying the game. The Greyhounds responded with 8:20 remaining as Sean O'Sullivan scored from 6 yards out. Delaware drew a flag on Loyola with just over a minute to play and tied the game with 26 seconds left.

A.J. Davis had 17 points and Andre Nation added 14 as James Madison beat Towson, 75-70, Tuesday night in a Colonial Athletic Association game in Harrisonburg, Va. Marcus Damas scored 19 points for the Tigers, Mike Burwell and Bilal Dixon added 13 apiece, and Jerrelle Benimon had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Dixon also had 13 rebounds for Towson, which had won four games in a row. James Madison's Devon Moore hit several key free throws down the stretch and finished 9-for-10 from the line.

Senior guard Jonathon Thompson and freshman forward Derrick Stewart led a second-half surge as host Rider rallied to beat Loyola, 64-57, in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball game Sunday. Thompson and Stewart scored 23 points apiece, combining to make 16 of 22 shots from the field for the Broncs (9-9, 4-2 MAAC), who have won three in a row since ending a five-game losing streak. Stewart also grabbed eight rebounds and Thompson had five. Senior guard Robert Olson scored 25 points for the Greyhounds (12-6, 4-2)

Welcome back to Morning Shootaround, a regular feature this season the day after Maryland basketball games. While we can't bring you into the Terps' locker room after games -- reporters haven't been allowed in there since the last couple of years under Gary Williams -- we will recap what was said in the news conference afterward by Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and his players. We will give some of our own insight into what transpired on the court during the previous day's game and what the Terps will be working on at practice looking ahead to their next game.

COLLEGE PARK - When Mark Turgeon began addressing the media after his team lost a 12-point second-half lead - and the game - to Florida State, the Maryland coach's voice was hoarse, and his mood was particularly sour. Maryland had won 13 games in a row until the Seminoles ended the streak Wednesday night at Comcast Center with a 65-62 victory. Neither Turgeon nor Maryland's players seemed to quite know how to react to the loss. It had been two months since their last defeat. This one - coming at home, where the Terps were 11-0 -- seemed particularly jarring.

COLLEGE PARK -- The five players Maryland coach Mark Turgeon puts on the floor to open games haven't always overwhelmed opponents this season. Rather, it's been the reinforcements - the steady stream of Terps parading to the scorer's table to check in when the starters falter. Turgeon liberally used his bench - one of Maryland's deepest in years - in an 81-63, New Year's Day victory over IUPUI to wrap up the Terps' nonconference schedule. It was Maryland's 12th straight victory - the team's longest win streak since 2002.

What Mark Turgeon remembers - what lingers with the coach like a nagging cold - is when his Maryland players dribble balls off their feet or try to make heroic passes when mundane ones would suffice. Maryland (6-1), which hosts UMES (0-7) Wednesday night, has won six games in a row. But, characteristically, Turgeon isn't as taken with his team as the fans might be. "I think everybody has got the cart way before the horse with our team," the coach said Tuesday. "I don't think we're a very good team yet and everybody's talking about how good we are. We really haven't done anything yet, to be quite honest with you. " For Turgeon, each Maryland mistake is like a tiny paper cut. Maryland had 19 turnovers in Sunday's 69-62 win over George Mason - one shy of the season high.

The Ravens have won an NFL-best 16 consecutive games at M&T Bank Stadium, including the playoff victory last January. Here is how they've gotten to this point. Dec. 9, 2010: Ravens 30, Saints 24: Ray Rice gained a career-high 233 total yards and scored twice, and the defense contained Drew Brees' high-powered offense to beat the reigning Super Bowl champs. Jan. 2, 2011: Ravens 13, Bengals 7: Having already clinched a wild-card berth and the No.5 seed, the Ravens put forth a less than inspiring performance which was highlighted by two Ed Reed interceptions.

A year ago, Devin Butler sat in a purple seat at M&T Bank Stadium and watched Frederick Douglass of Prince George's County fall to Middletown in the Class 2A football state championship. On Saturday, the freshman quarterback was on the field with the same stakes, battling the Knights in an attempt to land the first state title for Douglass. On the state's largest stage, Butler alternated flashes of brilliance with reminders of his youth in a 30-12 loss to Middletown. Douglass fell behind Middletown, 16-0, and couldn't recover as the Knights beat the Eagles in the title game for the second straight season, closing out their first perfect campaign with their 22nd straight victory.

Nine months before Bobby Ross came out of retirement to coach football at Army in December 2003, the United States began its military involvement in Iraq. As he dug into his new job at West Point, Ross was thinking more about how to rebuild a team that had lost all its games the previous season than the escalating casualties of war. Soon enough, Ross learned the success of Army football and whether the United States was actively engaged in war were often intertwined. Though it had not happened during the two World Wars -- the Cadets won their three national championships at the end of and immediately after World War II -- Army's football struggles in the early 1970s were often tied to the unpopularity of and protests against the Vietnam War. When Ross began to recruit in the winter and spring of 2004, the conversations he had with parents of prospective players often turned toward what was happening in Iraq.