Loyola High School coach Jerry Savage at first tried to ignore the standing ovation. The fans began to applaud in the final seconds of last night's boys basketball game with visiting Catonsville, and though the outcome had long since been decided, Savage kept watching his players. The roar grew louder when the final buzzer sounded, but Savage just blushed and quietly walked over to shake hands with the opposing coaches.

The Dons gave Savage his 600th career victory with an easy, 94-58 win over Catonsville. Even though he became only the second Baltimore-area coach to reach this milestone, the low-key Savage typically tried to deflect the attention and praise.

"It means I've been doing it a long time," Savage said with a laugh. "You just feel very fortunate that you've been able to be on the winning side."

Savage (600-437) then jokingly reminded some visitors in his office after the game to remember that he's also lost plenty. But this victory let him join the late Ray Mullis (621-346) as the only other Baltimore-area coach to reach this plateau.

There were plenty of friends, fans and family waiting to salute Savage. Fans walked out to the court to shake his hand and hug the coach while Savage was walking his team to the dressing room. Savage then posed for a large group picture at the back end of the school's gym a few minutes later before talking to many people in the basketball office.

The Loyola players were well aware of what this game meant. Savage had kept things low-key about the milestone, but they were thrilled to help their coach reach this honor.

"It's a chance for everyone to go down in history," said junior center Fred Slaughter, who scored a team-high 17 points. "No. 600 meant a lot to us."

Said senior guard/forward Essien Ford: "We all got in the game, and we all feel a part of it. All of his family and friends were here watching. We definitely wanted it tonight."

The Dons removed any doubt early with a 14-point first-quarter run against the free-shooting Comets. Catonsville (0-1) launched 59 three-pointers - making only 11 - while Loyola (3-2) often turned the misses into fast breaks and easy baskets.

Savage has two assistant coaches who know him well. Michael Savage started coming to games while still a little boy, played for his father later and moved up to be an assistant coach for 15 years.

"I think it's been enjoyable," Michael Savage said. "From when I was a little kid ... to working with him. It's been fun seeing it from different perspectives."

Pat Maggio has a more interesting perspective than most. He played at Cardinal Gibbons against a Savage-coached Loyola team his senior year, coached against Savage during his 13-year tenure as the Mount St. Joseph head coach and now has worked under him for nine years.

In addition, Maggio assisted Mullis for one year at Cardinal Gibbons while also coaching with him at summer camps. Mullis was a bit more fiery at times than the low-key Savage, but Maggio said both are very similar.

"The intensity for both was always there," Maggio said. "Jerry's a teacher who's patient and honest. It's hard to maintain your patience through 35 years, but he's done it."

This will be Savage's 35th and final year at Loyola. He announced before this season that he'll step down and hand the reins to former Dons player Steve Baker.

Savage's teams won five regular-season and five Catholic League tournament titles plus one Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title, but the Dons have had losing seasons the past five years.

He's unsure of what the future holds. Coaching again remains a possibility, but Savage said he might be inclined to step away from the game for a while.

Savage keeps much of his coaching history in a blue Loyola binder on his desk. The notebook keeps his team rosters, names, results and many other things. After the crowd had left last night, Savage leafed through the book and saw that his 600th win came 34 years and one day after his first - a 67-48 victory over Towson Catholic on Dec. 8, 1968.

"I think it's been great, the time I've been here at Loyola," Savage said. "But I didn't want people [to make] a big deal over this tonight."

He then looked out into the empty gym, smiled and closed the notebook.