BALTIMORE -- Lucious Jordan scored a game-high 21 points to help Loyola hold off Morgan State, 83-80, in the season opener for both schools Saturday night.
This was a first-round game in the Battle of Baltimore tournament, and Loyola (1-0) now advances to Monday's 7 p.m. championship game against UMBC, which scored an 86-81 victory over Towson in the earlier game.
Morgan State (0-1) will meet Towson (0-1) in the 4 p.m. consolation game Monday.
Jordan, Bernard Allen (15 points) and Charlie Bell (12 points) each made clutch shots in the second half as the Greyhounds held off a late Morgan State rally. Loyola had a 60-48 lead with about 12 minutes left, but the Bears slowly chipped away.
Morgan State lost a chance to tie when Randy Dukes (team-high 17 points) missed a free throw after hitting a jumper with 3:03 left. That left Loyola with a 70-69 lead, and the Bears helped matters by missing seven of eight free throws after that.
Still, Morgan State fought back and cut the lead to three in the final seconds. But the Bears couldn't get a shot off after Jordan missed two free throws with 1.6 seconds left.
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