Loyola’s Second Half Overcomes Irvine

Just when it appeared Loyola Marymount was in trouble Monday night, the Lions rediscovered their game.

The team’s fast break kicked into gear, the full-court press forced turnover after turnover and guard Terrell Lowery found his shooting touch after struggling in recent games.

Loyola was able to rally from 14-point second-half deficit to defeat UC Irvine, 95-84, in a nonconference game at Gersten Pavilion.

“Our kids will come back if we don’t dig too big a hole for ourselves,” said Loyola Coach Jay Hillock, whose team improved to 5-3 by winning back-to-back games for the first time this season. “I’m very happy with this win.”

Irvine (1-4), lost its fourth consecutive game. The Anteaters took a 50-36 lead in the first two minutes of the second half, completing a 24-7 run that had Loyola searching for answers.

“We were in trouble,” Hillock said. “We went into one of our lulls, and we couldn’t get out of it.”

Just as quickly, though, Loyola went on a 12-0 run to cut its deficit to 50-48. The Lions went ahead for good, 55-54, with 12:17 left on a dunk by forward Brian McCloskey off an alley-oop pass from Lowery.

Back in the lineup after missing a game with a sprained ankle, Lowery scored 26 of his season-high 37 points in the second half and had six steals to become Loyola’s career leader in that category. Lowery made 12 of 20 field goals after shooting nine for 29 in his previous two games combined.

McCloskey was another Loyola hero. A transfer from Irvine, he had 19 points on eight-for-14 shooting and a career-high 17 rebounds.

“It was great,” McCloskey said. “I played all summer with those guys (Irvine’s players). I didn’t want them to get us.”

The Lions turned the game around by making 23 of 37 field goals in the second half (62%) after shooting 39% in the first half. Loyola also benefited from 26 Irvine turnovers, 15 coming in the second half.

“I tried to tell our players that there’s no such thing as a halftime victory,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “We were up by 10. We thought that would be enough to win the game.”