Despite a spirited effort, the Cubs lost to the Fairfax Lions 60-50. They are now 1-1 in the Maranatha Tournament and 4-3 overall.

1st Quarter

Fairfax got on the board first with a layup. Senior center James Keefe’s two free throws put Loyola on the board and tied the game at 2, with 5:58 to go. A back-and-forth between the teams tied the game at 6 with 3:20 remaining. The Cubs ended the quarter on a 5-0 run thanks to a Keefe two pointer and a three by senior guard CJ Jones.

Score: Loyola 11, Fairfax 6.

2nd Quarter

Back-to-back buckets by senior guard Mason Butler gave Loyola a 10-point lead with 7:16 to go. A layup by Keefe extended the Cubs’ lead to 12, 18-6, with 6:30 remaining. Senior guard Jared Cox exited the game with an injury at the 6:22 mark and did not return for the rest of the game. A three by senior guard Mason Butler put the Cubs up by 15. The Lions responded with a 8-0 run. Jones made a three to give the Cubs a 24-16 lead. A Keefe layup brought the lead back to 10. Then, Loyola received a technical foul for an illegal substitution at the 2:22 mark. Fairfax made the technical free throw and they trailed 26-18. After another back-and-forth scoring affair, the Cubs led 28-23 with less than a minute to play. Senior forward Anthony Lucenti was fouled and made one of his free throws with 38 seconds remaining. A Fairfax player was fouled with 26 seconds to go, and he made both of his free throws. In the final seconds, CJ Jones airballed a three, but Lucenti made a putback layup as time expired.

Score: Loyola 31, Fairfax 25.

3rd Quarter

The Lions began the second half with a 4-0 run to cut the Cubs’ lead down to two. A 5-0 run by the Cubs gave them a 36-29 lead with less than five minutes to play. A Fairfax player was fouled at the 4:43 mark, and made both of his attempts from the stripe. Another technical foul on the Cubs resulted in two made free throws for the Lions, who cut the lead down to 3. Senior guard Neil Owens made a layup, but did not convert the potential three-point-play. A Fairfax three tied the game at 38 with two minutes to play. A putback two-pointer by Owens gave the Cubs a 40-38 lead. Fairfax responded with a three at the buzzer to take the lead.

Score: Fairfax 41, Loyola 40.

4th Quarter

The Lions jumped out to a six-point lead thanks to a 5-0 run. Junior forward Colby Brooks was fouled with 6:31 to go. He made one of his two free throws. Fairfax then received a technical foul on their coach. Neil Owens made the technical free throw. With the Lions leading 54-43, Keefe stole the ball and got a layup. After a series of free throws from both teams, Owens got fouled after a made layup. He converted the three-point-play with 25 seconds left. There were two trips to the free throw line by Fairfax, who made three of their last four attempts.

FINAL: Fairfax 60, Loyola 50.

Stats

The Cubs were led in scoring by Mason Butler and James Keefe, who had 14 points apiece. Keefe also had eight rebounds and one assist, while Butler got one rebound and three assists. Neil Owens rounded out the top three Cub scorers. He had 8 points, two rebounds, and two assists. Jared Cox scored two points, but led the team in rebounds with 9 boards.

As a team, the Cubs shot 18/46 from the field (39%) and 5/15 from 3 (33%). They also had 32 rebounds, 11 assists, one steal, and 13 turnovers.

Postgame

Coach Adams was pleased with the team’s effort, saying, “I thought all our guys played really hard and really sound. I’m really proud of the group.” Lucenti said, “We kind of let it slip at the end, but overall I thought it was a good team effort.” He also believes one of the team improvements from Monday’s game was sharing the ball. “In this game, we got everybody the ball. We ran our stuff, we executed, and we played well.”

The Cubs will have back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, with Friday's opponent being Oaks Christian School. Adams says, “As I told the guys, we need to have a good practice tomorrow.” He also mentioned the team’s depth, noting, “I think I gotta work on getting a few more guys in [the game]. In playing back-to-back games, we have to use our depth to our advantage.”