Hyungjung Lee helps Davidson rally past Loyola 59-56

Freshman Hyungjung Lee hit a pair of key 3-point field goals, sparking a second-half rally that lifted Davidson to a 59-56 victory Sunday at Loyola-Chicago.

Lee, the current Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Week, led the Wildcats (6-5) to their third straight victory with 19 points — 14 of those in the second half.

Davidson trailed the Ramblers (8-5) 42-34 with 12:37 left in the game after Loyola’s Keith Clemons scored on a layup.

“We laid an egg early in the second half, but we didn’t hang our heads,” head coach Bob McKillop said. “I was proud of our guys.”

But the Wildcats, who shot only 21 percent from 3-point range in the first half but 75 percent in the second half, went on an 11-3 run over a four-minute stretch. Lee hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 42-all, then made another 3-pointer with 8:10 left for a 45-42 led.

Loyola battled back and was tied 54-all with about two minutes to play, but Davidson’s Jon Axel Gudmundsson hit a 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining for a 57-54 lead, and Luka Brajkovic made a pair of three throws with eight seconds left for the Wildcats’ final points.

Davidson made 9 of 26 shots from the floor in the first half but connected on 13 of 25 in the second half. Kellan Grady added 16 points as the Wildcats’ No. 2 scorer.

Freshman reserve Marquise Kennedy led Loyola with 13 points.

“We fought and fought and fought,” McKillop said. “They’re a very good team, and this is a tough place to play. It wasn’t pretty, but we came through.”

AND ONE

Davidson made 3 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half but hit 6 of 8 in the second half.

PERSONAL FOUL

The Wildcats dug themselves in a hole in the first half, going scoreless for more than seven minutes. That cold spell enabled Loyola to erase a four-point deficit and build a four-point lead.

ICYMI

Sunday marked Davidson’s only game in a 20-day stretch. The Wildcats last played Dec. 10 and won’t take to the court again until a Dec. 30 contest at Vanderbilt.

It’s been a while since the only other Davidson-Loyola meeting. The teams met on Dec. 28, 1973, in the Charlotte Invitational. The Wildcats won that game 46 years ago by a 98-83 score.

MAKING SENSE OF THE NUMBERS

87: Hyunyung Lee’s shooting percentage Sunday. He hit 7 of 8 from the floor in a reserve role.

3: Consecutive victories by Davidson.

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle