No. 1 Wolf Pack wins convincingly over William Carey, 91-64

Top-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack led wire-to-wire over William Carey, claiming a 27-point win over the Crusaders

NEW ORLEANS – The No. 1 Loyola Wolf Pack men’s basketball team got back to their winning ways Saturday, defeating William Carey 91-64 in The Den to sweep the season series for the first time since 2015. The win moves the Wolf Pack to 17-1 overall and 6-1 in conference play, and they’ll host Middle Georgia State next Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

After William Carey scored the game’s first two points, the Wolf Pack used the trio of Myles Burns, Terry Smith Jr. and Zach Wrightsil to take complete control of the contest. They began the game 9-for-12 combined to help Loyola build a 30-16 advantage halfway through the first half. Separate steals by Burns led to two made shots in the early going, and free throws by Burns and Smith quickly put the Pack up 10-4. After a couple of made shots by Wrightsil and Smith, Jalen Galloway’s 3-pointer pushed the score to 19-8 six minutes into the game. Smith added six more points and Andrew Fava made a 3 to bring the score to 30-16.

Fava connected on another 3-pointer a few minutes later, and Wrightsil made the final three shots for the Wolf Pack to take a 45-31 lead by halftime.

Milan Mejia started the second half hot, hitting two 3-pointers in the first 65 seconds, then Smith and Zach Muller kept it a 20-point game, 57-37, with 14 minutes left on the clock. Muller scored again and another 3 from Galloway pushed the lead to 62-38, and two 3s each from Mejia and Fava brought the score to 70-50 with nine minutes remaining. Wrightsil and Burns combined for the next nine points, the last for Burns giving him 1,501 points for his career, as the game was never in doubt down the stretch. Back-to-back 3s by Andrew Stagni and Muller capped off the victory for the Wolf Pack.

PACK FACTS
After missing the team’s previous game, Myles Burns had a triumphant return to the court, finishing with a stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, seven steals, and one block. It was the first triple-double of his Wolf Pack career, and he was three steals shy of a quadruple-double.

Burns, ranked 9th in the Loyola record book in career points scored, now has 1,501 for his Loyola career. He’s the second active Wolf Pack player to reach 1,500 career points, joining Zach Wrightsil.

Also posting some stellar stats while moving up in the Wolf Pack record book, Wrightsil poured in a game-high 20 points while adding eight rebounds, eight assists, three steals, and a block.

Wrightsil now has 1,722 career points, which is the third-most in Loyola history. He’s also tied for third in career steals with 158 takeaways. Finally, Wrightsil is now tied for second in career assists, dishing out 404 assists in his Wolf Pack career.

Terry Smith Jr. had one of his best scoring games of the season, putting up 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Smith is just three points away from the 1,500 mark, with 1,497 points for his career.

Milan Mejia, Zach Muller, and Andrew Fava scored nine points apiece. Mejia and Fava combined to hit six of the 10 Wolf Pack three-pointers.

You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.