Loyola men’s basketball heads to Freed-Hardeman for NAIA tournament

The Wolf Pack men’s basketball team earned an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship tournament after winning the SSAC Championship tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA released its field of 64 for the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship on Thursday, placing the Loyola Wolf Pack men’s basketball as the No. 16 seed.

Loyola will face off against No. 1 seed Freed-Hardeman on Friday, March 15 for the first round of the tournament. Game times have not been set yet.

It’s the sixth straight year Loyola has played in the national tournament, and this will be the third-ever matchup between the schools after last playing during the 2002-03 season.

The men’s team ended the regular season 10-17 overall after winning its last three games, including wins over No. 7 Tennessee Southern and No. 19 Mobile. The Wolf Pack (14-17) would go on to become the only team in SSAC Championship history to win four games in four days, as they also became the only men’s team to capture a third straight tournament championship.

FHU amassed a 26-4 overall record and a 10-2 mark in the Mid-South Conference, as the Lions shared the regular-season title with the University of the Cumberlands. They did, though, go on to with the conference tournament with a championship win over No. 16 Georgetown (Ky.).

No. 8 seed Point Park (Pa., 29-2) and No. 9 seed Texas College (22-8) join the Wolf Pack and Lions in the first- and second-round bracket. The winner of the four-team tournament will advance to Kansas City, Missouri, for the Round of 16.

Zachary Lee was named the SSAC Championship Most Valuable Player and Braelee Albert joined him on the SSAC All-Tournament Team. Milan Mejia and Alex Hammond lead the Wolf Pack in scoring, both averaging 13.5 points per game, as Albert (10.4) and Lee (9) are next. Lee leads the team in rebounding with a 6.6 per-game mark, and Mejia has a team-high 51 steals this season.

Mejia was named to the SSAC All-Conference Second Team last week, too, and Kameron Johnson and Lee were both selected to the SSAC All-Freshman Team.

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