No matter how much appeared to be in favor of Loyola last night, it wasn't enough to keep the Greyhounds from losing to Fairleigh Dickinson, 61-56, in the opener of a five-game homestand.

Loyola (1-3) did slow the Knights (3-0), who usually score in the mid-70s but shot 39 percent last night. The Greyhounds, who don't go on the road until Jan. 2, also out-rebounded Fairleigh Dickinson 41-30 and had three players score in double figures, led by Charlie Bell's 14 points.

But bad shooting and carelessness with the ball doomed the Greyhounds, who made only four of their final 10 field-goal attempts after trimming a 51-44 deficit to 52-50 at the 4:38 mark.

After Loyola closed to within two, Fairleigh Dickinson got one deep three-pointer by Iman Mattox and a pair of unlikely shots during the final 1:37 by 5-foot-9 point guard Marcus Whitaker to leave Reitz Arena undefeated.

With his team up only 55-52 after a field goal by Loyola's Bobby Bossman, Whitaker - who finished with 11 points, five assists and four steals - responded by driving through the lane and making a layup high off the glass.

Loyola closed the gap again when Delonnie Southall followed his own miss, but Whitaker hit a three-pointer that put the Knights up 60-54 with 33 seconds left.

"This was a game that we had a chance to win," said Greyhounds coach Scott Hicks, who also got 12 points from Donovan Thomas. "We just needed to make a few more stops at the end. Those three-point buckets were the difference."

Loyola squandered its rebounding advantage by committing 17 turnovers, one reason the Knights led 31-27 at the half.

In the second half, Greyhounds leading scorer and guard Lucious Jordan scored eight of his 10 points. But Loyola couldn't convert second-chance field-goal attempts on two instances in the final minutes and the team went scoreless for 2:30.

"They hit some big shots, and some of our shots didn't go our way," Jordan said. "We wanted to go .500, but we just need to come out and concentrate on the next game. It's too early to think about that."

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON-Bomayako 3-13 1-1 9, McBain 0-2 1-2 1, Whitaker 3-8 4-4 11, Leis 3-5 0-0 7, Mattox 3-9 4-6 13, Timberlake 1-1 0-0 2, Peterson 1-1 0-0 2, Hammond 7-10 0-3 14, Edwards 1-4 0-0 2, Cuzela 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 10-16 61.

LOYOLA-Thomas 4-8 4-5 12, Nijaradze 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan 5-15 0-0 10, Bell 3-8 5-6 14, Allen 2-7 0-0 4, Bossman 1-5 0-0 2, Hinds 3-4 0-0 6, Southall 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 22-54 9-11 56.

Halftime-Fairleigh Dickinson, 31-27. 3-point goals-FD 7-26 (Leis 1-1, Mattox 3-8, Bomayako 2-7, Whitaker 1-6, Hammond 0-1, Cuzela 0-3); L 3-15 (Bell 3-4, Thomas 0-1, Southall 0-1, Allen 0-2, Bossman 0-3, Jordan 0-4). Fouled out-none. Rebounds-FD 30 (Edwards 7); L 41 (Allen 8). Assists-FD 9 (Whitaker 5); L 9 (Bell 3). Total fouls-FD 17; L 15. A-304.