The window opened and Darius Johnson saw nothing but baskets before him.
With Loyola's leader, B. J. Pendleton, hobbled by a strained hamstring and foul trouble last night, Johnson took over the Greyhounds' offense with a passion.
The sophomore guard from Cincinnati burned winless American U. for 23 first-half points and finished with a career-high 27 in Loyola's 81-68 victory before 1,025 at Reitz Arena.
"Basically, I knew I had to step up," said Johnson, whose late three- pointer in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game was one of the biggest shots in Loyola history.
"I felt good from the beginning, and if you hit the first couple, you start thinking they're all going down. My teammates were looking for me a lot."
Johnson made 10 of 13 attempts, including four of six from three-point range, and topped the 24 points he amassed against Monmouth in the third game of the season.
Loyola coach Brian Ellerbe was hoping Johnson could continue the pace in the second half, but the Eagles tightened their perimeter defense and rationed Johnson to three shots.
"We wanted to keep getting him the shots, but we didn't do a good job of getting the ball to him," said Ellerbe.
American U. (0-9) never led and fell behind by 14 at halftime by turning the ball over 16 times. But the Eagles made their move early in the second half, accounting for 17 of the first 22 points to pull to within 51-49.
The Greyhounds quickly regained the momentum by having five different players share in their next 11 points to go ahead 62-52.
From that point, the margin was never less than five.
Pendleton missed practice for two days, but told Ellerbe he wanted to play in the game. He obviously was not himself, collecting only five points and two rebounds in 16 minutes.
zTC "B. J. was questionable almost up to game time," said the coach. "It was an inspiration to the others to see our leading player fight through his situation and play. Now with four or five days of rest, he should be ready when we resume."
Loyola (4-4) does not play again until Jan. 2 when it visits St. Joseph's in Philadelphia.
Ellerbe received some good inside play from David Credle (10 points, 5 rebounds), Virgil Wallace (7 points, 7 rebounds) and Julian Tate (10 points) to keep the Eagles from loading up on Johnson.
All in all, it was a respectable effort to Ellerbe, considering the Greyhounds' second-half collapse in their previous game, a loss to Mount St. Mary's.
The coach said "we're not to the point where we worry" about a winless team being fired up to play the Greyhounds. "We have to play well ourselves and forget the hypothetical.
"We shot the ball well in this game and executed when we needed to."
Guard Darryl Franklin, with 17 points and forward Christian Ast, with 16, again paced the Eagles, who are missing senior forward Tim Fudd (redshirted after suffering a broken kneecap). American finished with 16 turnovers and were 3-for-15 from three-point range.