No. 15 Loyola rolls at William Carey, 79-63

The No. 15 Wolf Pack is now 12-1 in SSAC play after Thursday’s road win over the Crusaders

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The 15th-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack men’s basketball team hit the road on Thursday for a Southern States Athletic Conference matchup with William Carey, defeating the Crusaders 79-63 for the Pack’s 12th league win. With seven SSAC games remaining, Loyola (17-3, 12-1 in SSAC) remains atop the conference standings by a game and a half over second-place Faulkner.

The Wolf Pack will now host Mobile on Saturday for a 2 p.m. first tip. The game is a part of Loyola Athletics’ Wolf Pack Hall of Fame festivities, as the 2023 inductees will be honored at halftime.

Jalen Galloway made three quick baskets in the first three minutes to bring the score to 8-8 in the early going. Milan Mejia, Alex Hammond and Leonard Jackson all got their first points, helping the Pack take a 16-10 lead with 12 and a half minutes left in the first half. The Crusaders, however, scored the next 11 of 13 points to take a 21-18 lead at the seven-and-a-half-minute mark.

Galloway actually made his first five shots, scoring again after WCU’s run, then six points by Michael Harden to flip the lead in Loyola’s direction, 29-26, with 2:30 left on the clock. Galloway finished with 12 points in the first half and Matthew Mondesir’s 3-pointer in the final seconds gave the Pack a 34-28 advantage by halftime.

Galloway, again, got the scoring start with four early points to begin the second half, 38-28, then Harden and Muller scored on back-to-back possessions to push the score to 43-33 after two minutes of play. Muller and Jackson hit 3s over the course of the next couple of minutes, and Hammond kept it a double-digit lead, 57-46, with 11 minutes to play.

Harden ended a quick 7-0 William Carey run with a 3-pointer, 60-53, and after WCU cut its deficit to 60-55, Harden, Muller and Dominic Brown each scored to make it a nine-point game, 66-57, with seven minutes left. Bradley Alcime got on the board and Galloway earned his 20th point, as the Wolf Pack started to pull away. Alcime’s next bucket made the lead 74-61 with two minutes left, and a 3-pointer by Jackson in the final minute put the exclamation point on the win.

Pack Facts

• Loyola has won six consecutive matchups with William Carey, the program’s longest winning streak ever against the Crusaders.
• Tonight’s 16-point victory was the fifth time that the Wolf Pack earned a double-digit victory this season. This was also Loyola’s fourth-largest win of the season.
• Jalen Galloway led all scorers with 20 points, going 10-of-17 from the field with a team-high six rebounds, plus two assists, a steal and a block.
• This was the ninth 20-point game of the season for Galloway, who is one of the conference’s leading scorers, averaging just under 19 points per game.
• Michael Harden was the game’s second-leading scorer with 17 points. Harden was also 3-of-7 from on three-pointers, marking his third game this season with at least three makes from deep.
• Including Galloway and Harden, four Wolf Pack players scored in double figures, with Zach Muller (11) and Leonard Jackson (10) joining the party.
• Since returning from injury on Dec. 19, Muller has scored at least 10 points in five of the last seven games.
• Matthew Mondesir played 21 minutes in his first game since Jan. 3, scoring five points with team highs in assists (5) and steals (2).
• Overall, Loyola players combined for 16 assists with just eight turnovers. That’s tied for the team’s third-lowest turnover total of the season.

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