It was a one-possession game for the last seven minutes, but Xavier’s Olumide Olafioye ended the game, and Loyola’s season, at the foul line.

The defeat came in the first game of the conference tournament, but after finishing with the school’s best record in decades (16-13, 9-9) no one walked away with his head down.

The third-seeded Xavier University defeated the sixth-seeded ‘Pack, 66-61, in a hard-fought game that featured six lead changes and six ties with no team leading by more than six points.

“When you go from five wins (last season) to 16 wins – the most wins since 1971 – I couldn’t be more proud,” Loyola head coach Michael Giorlando said after the game.

With nine seconds left on the clock Luke Zumo, psychology senior, made it a one possession game at the foul line after sinking both free throws. But he was forced to foul Xavier guard Olafioye on the pass-in, who crushed any last chance for the ‘Pack by sinking both of his shots at the charity stripe.

“If he would have only missed those two free throws in the end, we would have hit a three and sent it into overtime,” said Zumo, who was recently named to the All-Conference team.

The ‘Pack had taken the lead midway through the second half, but Olafioye hit a perimeter shot to give it back to the Gold Rush.

It was a one-possession game from the 13 minute mark until Olafioye’s free throws.

Missed free throws plagued Loyola in the second half, where they went 10 for 20 from the line. Head coach Michael Giorlando said, “Missing 10 free throws in a tight game like that makes all the difference in the world. It was unfortunate that it happened, but despite that we still had it down to a one-possession game with less than 20 seconds.”

Loyola started the game executing effectively on offense, working the perimeter to open up outside and midrange opportunities. The ‘Pack held the lead for most of the first half, and even pulled ahead by five twice, but Shaun Dumas or Olafioye were always there to make the assist or sink the three that kept Xavier in the game.

Loyola played a tight 2-3 matchup zone to prevent the pick-and-roll that Xavier usually runs at the top of the key. Loyola shut down the paint, preventing drives and forcing poor shots, but the Gold Rush adapted by working the perimeter, where they scored 27 points.

Nick Tuszynski, general business studies junior, led the ‘Pack with eight rebounds.

Mario Faranda, finance senior, and Darrinton Moncrieffe, management freshman, each had two blocks for the night.

The Loyola bench had one of its best performances of the season. Moncrieffe forced a number of bad shots. McArthur Strickland, marketing sophomore, shook his defender to receive a pass that he sank while drawing the foul. At the end of the first half Robert Manson, marketing junior, battled for a rebound and made an impressive assist to Zumo for a baseline three.

Torry Beaulieu finished with 13 points and three assists. Zumo led Loyola scorers with 19 points – scoring 12 of those off three-pointers.

The third-team All-American Dumas commanded the Gold Rush offense, which played low and used screen-and-rolls to open up opportunities at the corners and midrange.

After the first five minutes, head coach Dannton Jackson pulled Dumas for two minutes midway through the half, but quickly put him back on the floor after. During the Feb. 28 game against Loyola he played only eight minutes in the first half. Dumas ended the night with 16 points and eight assists.

Xavier’s seventh in the nation defense played a man-to-man, resembling a zone, that forced the outside shot for Loyola all game.

“We wanted to put pressure on them for 40 minutes, wear them down, and near the end they started missing some shots,” Jackson said.

Olafioye had his second-best game of the season, scoring 19 points and hitting three of four from the arc.

Steve Heath can be reached at [email protected].