No. 3 Loyola takes road win over Mobile

NEW ORLEANS – No. 3 Loyola hit the road for a Southern States Athletic Conference matchup with Mobile on Thursday.

After the Rams gave the Pack all they could handle in their first meeting, the Wolf Pack won 71-58 in Round 2 at Pharr Gymnasium.

The victory clinched another 20-win season for the program, improving Loyola’s record to 20-1 overall and 9-1 in the league.

The Pack is set to play five home games in 10 days starting on Saturday afternoon. First, Loyola will host No. 21 Faulkner, which is the only team to beat Loyola this season, at 2 p.m. in The Den, followed by games against Blue Mountain, Dalton State, No.2 Talladega and Stillman.

Mobile and Loyola battled for points in the early going, combining for 20 points through the first seven minutes. Myles Burns scored the first four points for the Pack, then after two Terry Smith Jr. free throws, Zach Wrightsil and Brandon Davis had consecutive scores to put Loyola up 10-8. Burns made it a four-point lead, followed by a step-back jumper by Wrightsil to give the team a 16-10 lead.

Two more field goals by Wrightsil a couple of minutes later extended the score to 22-10 at the eight-minute mark, but the Rams battled back with seven straight points. Milan Mejia answered with a 3-pointer, 25-17, with four and a half to go until halftime, and five straight points by Wrightsil helped give Loyola the 31-26 advantage at the break.

Mobile tried to stay close to start the second half, but a quick six-point run forced the Rams to call an early timeout. Andrew Fava started that with a 3, then scores by Smith and Burns put Loyola ahead by 10, 40-30, three minutes into the half. Burns and Wrightsil accounted for another six quick points, extending the lead to 46-32, and a Jalen Galloway field goal made it a 49-33 game with more than 13 minutes to play.

Davis got on the board in the second half with a layup and a 3-pointer, and a dunk by Zach Muller kept the Wolf Pack ahead by double digits, 55-36. A 3 by Galloway pushed Loyola out front by 20, 60-40, with eight minutes left, and Smith made it a 24-point game a couple of minutes later with two straight buckets. The Rams chipped into the deficit in the final few minutes, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Loyola’s large second-half lead.

PACK FACTS
Loyola clinched the ninth 20-win season in program history Thursday night.

It’s also the third 20-win season for the Wolf Pack in the last four years.

Zach Wrightsil collected his fifth double-double of the season after putting up 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Two more players scored in double figures for the Wolf Pack: Myles Burns with 14 and Terry Smith Jr. with 10. Both also moved up on Loyola’s all-time scoring list.

Smith is now 10th all-time with 1,531 career points, while Burns moved up to 8th with 1,552 points in his Wolf Pack career.

The Pack assisted on 21 of 30 made baskets Thursday. It’s the fourth consecutive game that the team has reached 20 or more assists, which is the longest such streak in the modern era.

Burns and Cameron Dumas tied for the team lead with four assists apiece.

Burns also tied for the game-high in steals. He and Andrew Fava each had four. Burns needs just five more to tie the single-season program record for steals.

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