Business-like approach carries Loyola past Arizona Christian into NAIA national title game

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The celebration was muted because the job is not finished.

Loyola New Orleans used a 17-2 run late in the first half to open up a 36-18 lead and then cruised into the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Game with an 82-70 victory over Arizona Christian Monday night. The game was played at historic Municipal Auditorium, the host facility to more NCAA Final Fours (nine) than any other building.

The Wolf Pack will meet Southern States Athletic Conference rival Talladega – a 78-77 overtime winner over Thomas More (Ky.) in the other semifinal – for the national championship at 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday.

The Wolf Pack had five players reach double figures, led by Zach Wrightsil with 20.

Miles Burns and Jalen Galloway added 16 points for the Wolf Pack. Cameron Dumas added 12 and Andrew Fava had 10 points. Wrightstil and Burns pulled down nine rebounds and Galloway added eight, as the Wolf Pack won its 20th consecutive game and moved within one win of their first national title since 1945.

“We have one more game until we can repeat history,” Wrightsil said after the game. “When we play our best basketball, we feel like there’s nobody in the country who can beat us.

“I can give credit to our defense. They stayed consistent. When we get up we try not to give up the lead, and stretch it out as large as we can.”

Loyola lived up to its No. 1 seed, although Arizona Christian was also the No. 1 seed in its region. The Wolf Pack were all business, and unlike their quarterfinal win over College of Idaho when they had to come back from a late deficit, they left little in doubt.

“People talk about systems,” head coach Stacy Hollowell said. “We don’t really have a system. We kind of do what fits our guys best. Tonight we threw some things against the wall to see what stuck. What we started with stuck.

“That’s why we jumped out early. Our guys brought energy, athleticism and length. They did a nice job.”

Three straight 3-pointers by Loyola, including two straight by Cameron Dumas, took a 3-point lead and turned it into a 12-point lead late in the first half. But the run didn’t stop there.

The encouraging thing for the Wolf Pack is that they built their 39-28 halftime lead with their three top scorers combining for 11 points, including leading scorer Wrightstil with just 4. Jalen Galloway, who averages 6.6 points per game, led all scorers with 12 points.

“That’s what it takes in these situations,” Hollowell said. “You need some luck, but you need guys who are tough and physical, and those guys came through.”

That didn’t surprise Wrightsil.

“Galloway came in ready to play,” he said. “He was an all-American last year. He came into our program and we expected big things out of him. Tonight he showed up when it mattered the most.”

The lead was never less than 12 throughout the second half, and it stretched to 20 points at the 13:04 mark. The largest lead of the game was 23 points before Arizona Christian hit some 3-pointers late to cut into the deficit.

The Wolf Pack has one game left to bring home the program’s first national championship since 1945. Expect that businesslike approach to be a part of their game.

Loyola will face Southern States Athletic Conference rival Talladega in the NAIA title game Tuesday night.

Postgame Interviews:

FINAL SCORE
No. 1 Loyola (La.) def. No. 1 Arizona Christian | 82-70

No. 1 Loyola (La.) advances to the NAIA National Championship game and will face No. 2 Talladega (Ala.) on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. CT. No. 1 Arizona Christian has been eliminated from the championship.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

Loyola (La.) (Naismith)
-The Wolf Pack move to 36-1 on the season.
-They advance to their second NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship game. Their only appearance they were crowned champs in 1945 with the 45-39 win over Pepperdine (Calif.)
-The win marks their 20th win in a row.
-The two-time SSAC Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Burns proves his offensive capabilities too, bumping up to No. 2 All-Time in Loyola (La.) history for points with 1,837 for his career after tonight’s 16-point performance.
-Burns has impressed this tournament averaging a double-double with 17.8 points a game and 10.8 rebounds per game.
-Zach Wrightsil led all scorers with 20 points. He shot 7-14 from the field and 6-11 from the free throw line.
-Loyola broke into the game on a 6-0 scoring run through first 2:52 of game.
-Three straight three pointers for the Wolf Pack, one by Jalen Galloway and two by Cameron Dumas, created a nine-point swing in the span of 36 seconds (7:55-7:14).
-Loyola led by as much as 23 points in the game.
-In the last 10 minutes of play in the opening half, the Wolf Pack outscored the Firestorm, 23-14 for the 11-point halftime lead 39-28.
-The Wolf Pack took advantage of 16 Firestorm turnovers for 23 points off of turnovers, while having the upper hand in steals with 10 compared to ACU’s four.
-Came into the matchup with 3rd in the nation in offensive rebounds per game with 15.5 and stayed true to that number with 14 offensive rebounds.
-They also improve to 13-6 overall at the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Tournament.

Arizona Christian (Cramer)
-The Firestorm close out 2022 with a 31-5 record.
-The loss ends a four-game winning streak.
-This marked Arizona Christian’s first-ever appearance in the Semifinals of the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Tournament.
-Scored four points to cut their deficit during a Wolf Pack scoring drought of 2:12, from 11:32 to 9:20 in the first half.
-No. 24 Bryce Davis had 10 points in the first half alone to lead his team in the half.
-Davis, a senior, was well above his season average of 9.9 points per game, finishing with 19 points, his second straight game of double-figure scoring and third game of the tournament with more than 10 points.
-Dennis Flowers III heated up in the second half with 14 points and had 15 for the game. He has double-figure scoring in four of the last five games.
-Entering the game they had a slightly higher shooting percentage from three-point range than the Wolf Pack at 36.7 to 34.1, but were held to only 5-27 from behind the arc at 18.5-percent.
-ACU was above their season average in turnovers per game of 12.7 against the swarming Wolf Pack in the contest. The Firestorm had 13 turnovers with 11:49 left in the game and had 16 when the night was over.
-The Firestorm now are 8-7 all-time in NAIA tournament play.

FINAL SCORE
No. 2 Talladega (Ala.) def. No. 2 Thomas More (Ky.) | 78-77 (OT) | BOX SCORE

No. 2 Talladega (Ala.) advances to the NAIA National Championship game and will take on Southern States Athletic Conference rival No. 1 Loyola (La.) on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. CT. No. 2 Thomas More (Ky.) has been eliminated from the championship.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

Talladega (Ala.) (Duer)
-Talladega improves to 32-5 on the season.
-Appearing in their second NAIA semifinals.
-They are 7-3 all-time at the NAIA National Championship.
-The Tornadoes have been stout all year, holding teams to 38.3-percent from the field, third best in the NAIA. The Saints were held below their season average at 43.3-percent.
-The Tornadoes trailed 10-9 with 16:25 on the clock, but a 14-2 run over the next 5:51 firmly gave them the 23-12 lead.
-The Tornadoes outscored the Saints 39-27 in the first half.
-The leading scorer for Talladega was Cam Potts, who also, already holds the 2022 tournament-high for assists with 11, led all players with six assists.
-Additional help from the Tornado bench accounted for 17 first half points and 26 altogether, while Thomas More had nine.
-Between 7:43 and 4:49 in the second half, Talladega regained a 10-point advantage with an 11-2 scoring run.
-Edwin Louis had game defining moments in overtime with two makes from beyond the arc to give the Tornados their last six points and the eventual game-winning score. He exits the semifinal stage with 16 points on 6-7 from the field and 2-3 from three.

Thomas More (Ky.) (Liston)
-Thomas More closes out the year 31-5.
-A four-game win streak came to a head in the semifinals of the National Championship.
-They are now 6-4 all-time in the NAIA National Championship.
-Entered the game 5th in the nation in field-goal percentage at 50-percent, but were held slightly below their season average at 43.3-percent, while the Tornados shot 58.5-percent.
-No. 1 Ryan Batte, the Mid-South Conference Player of the Year, has been on a tear a the national tournament, averaging 20.2 points per game through four contests of the national tournament. He shattered that pace with a new tournament-leading 29-point performance.
-Five points began the comeback for the Saints in the first half cutting the Tornadoes lead to eight, the closest the game had been since 9:51 in the first half.
-At the 7:43 mark the Saints were able to come within one point of the Tornados, but were unable to create a lead change.
-The first overtime of the 2022 NAIA National tournament was brought about by a Saints 12-4 run in the last four minutes of regulation. The Saints outscored their challenger 41-29 in the second half.
-The Saints got to the line more than their opponent with 17-21 in free-throws, while the Tornados were 7-12.