Eight teams remain active in the Collegeinsiders.com Tournament (CIT), and two are from the MAAC.
Canisius earned its way to the quarterfinals with a Saturday night victory over Youngstown State and, now, Loyola also got there with a 73-59 decision over Kent State on Sunday afternoon.
The Greyhounds will play next on Tuesday at East Carolina at 7 p.m. in Greenville, N.C. ECU already has a tournament victory over a MAAC opponent, having ended Fairfield's season in the event's second round.
Loyola surely hopes ECU will play a defensive strategy similar to Kent State's.
On Sunday, Loyola's 6-foot-7 senior forward Erik Etherly saw single coverage and exploded for 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Etherly got 17 of his points from the foul line (17-of-19), the most by a Loyola player since Jamal Barney had a school record 18 against NJIT in 2009.
"Getting to the line has always been his game," Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos told reporters afterwards. "I think not being scouted so much helped Erik. They weren't ready to double-team him every time. It was like, `OK, it's Etherly,' whereas Fairfield and Iona were just running people at him. So, he had got some room and he did some damage."
"It's a lot easier when you don't have to try to score over four people at times," Etherly told reporters after the game.
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