Matt Gabriel had the situation pegged.
"There were a lot of ups and downs in this game," Gabriel said. "It was kind of like our four years here."
Gabriel and four other seniors at Loyola were on the verge of a happy ending to their final appearance at Reitz Arena last night, but the Greyhounds' Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game with St. Peter's ended the way the majority of games have in their careers, on the short end.
Down 17 points midway through the first half, Loyola rallied and led with nine minutes to go, but St. Peter's made the plays down the stretch and the Greyhounds didn't. The result was a 76-72 victory for the Peacocks, who could be Loyola's quarterfinal opponent in the MAAC tournament March 4.
Loyola (8-16, 4-8) dropped into a tie for sixth in the MAAC, and St. Peter's (16-9, 10-3) broke a two-game losing streak and solidified its hold on second place.
The loss gave Loyola's five seniors a four-year record of 41-68, but they've enjoyed at least one incredible high. As sophomores, they were 2-25, the worst record in the program's history, but last year they were a part of the NCAA tournament's premier Cinderella story, as the Greyhounds upset their way to a MAAC tournament title.
Brian Ellerbe is the fourth coach they've had in as many seasons.
"The hardest thing about it has been the mental aspect," said Gabriel, a MAAC All-Academic selection the past two years. "Usually, when you're coming back for a season, you know what to expect. You know the system, you know the coach. But here, it's been where do I stand with this coach? Am I a point guard or a shooting guard? Do I distribute or score?
"Through it all, we've played hard, and we've played together."
Gabriel took only two shots, but he recharged the sliding Greyhounds with a diving steal when they entered the final minute down 69-63. Senior forward B. J. Pendleton missed a pair of crucial free throws with 1:58 to go, but he had 13 points and five rebounds, running his career totals to 1,402 points and 682 rebounds.
David Credle had 14 points and six rebounds, and Virgil Wallace and Rick Wohl, the Greyhounds' two other seniors, combined to play 21 minutes underneath.
But this is yet another transition year for the Greyhounds, and they were led last night by a junior and a freshman.
Teron Owens was called for traveling, wiping out his three-pointer that would have given the Greyhounds a 75-73 lead with eight seconds to go. Still, the junior from Catonsville had a career-high 18 points, and made the three-pointer that got Loyola within 73-72 with 20 seconds to go.
The Greyhounds' second-leading scorer was John McDonald, the sublime freshman guard who had 17 points.
St. Peter's, which ran its record at Reitz Arena to 5-1, got 22 points from Brian Griffith, a junior guard. St. Peter's made 59.1 percent of its shots in the first half, as the Peacocks had early leads of 21-7 and 29-12.
The Peacocks outscored the Greyhounds 11-3 after McDonald's free throw put the home team ahead 53-52 with 9:40 to go. The St. Peter's lead was 69-63 before the Greyhounds went on a 9-4 run in the last minute, only to be halted by the call on Owens.
"I don't know if people understand how hard it is to come back on a team as physical as St. Peter's is," Ellerbe said. "It's like falling behind a football team that can run."
If the two teams do meet again, St. Peter's has something to think about.
"I know the record is not that good, but if we can play like we did in the second half, I'm not sure how many teams will want to draw us in the first round," Ellerbe said.