BALTIMORE – Delaware fell behind by 17 points at halftime and a second half rally fell short as the Blue Hens fell to host Loyola 75-63 in a non-league men’s basketball game Wednesday night at Reitz Arena.

Loyola guard Gerald Brown came off the bench to score a team-high 22 points, forward Josko Alujevic added 12 points and nine rebounds, Michael Tuck had 13 points off the bench, Brett Harvey chipped in with 11 points, and Shane James dished out a career-high nine assists as the Greyhounds (3-2) won their home opener and downed the Hens for the second straight year.

Delaware, which dropped to 0-5 for the first time since 1990-91, wasted a career-effort from sophomore guard Zaire Taylor (at right) who scored 23 of his career-high 30 points in the second half and added seven rebounds. Taylor surpassed his previous high of 22 points in his collegiate debut last season vs. The Citadel.

Herb Courtney hit double figures for the fifth straight game for Delaware and finished with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds while Henry Olawoye added seven rebounds.

“I was happy with Zaire’s shot selection tonight,” said Delaware first-year head coach Monté Ross. “He came ready to play but unfortunately he may have been the only one. We need to try to find guys who can step up every night. We’ll go back to practice tomorrow and keep working hard.”

Loyola jumped out to a 32-15 halftime lead and never looked back in posting the win. Delaware cut the lead to 40-27 with 14:47 left to play in the second half, but the Greyhounds responded with an 18-5 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 58-32 with 8:02 remaining.

Delaware trailed just 11-8 after Darrell Johnson converted a layup with 13:31 left in the opening half, but Loyola took off on a 21-5 run over an 11-minute span to go up 32-13 with 2:23 left before halftime on three free throws by Brown. The Hens shot just 6 of 29 (20.7percent) from the field in the opening half on the way to the 17-point deficit.

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