No. 5 Loyola moves to 5-0 after convincing win at Spring Hill

Loyola Wolf Pack men’s basketball team began a stretch of six games in nine days Tuesday night, taking on Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama

MOBILE, Ala. – The Loyola University New Orleans men’s basketball continued its hot start to the 2021 season Tuesday night, defeating Spring Hill College, 91-66. The win moves the Wolf Pack to 5-0 overall this season with Southern States Athletic Conference play starting Tuesday in Georgia.

Tuesday was the first of six games away from New Orleans in a nine-day span, and the team is set to travel to Middle Georgia State on Thursday and Brewton-Parker on Saturday for a pair of SSAC matchups. Thursday’s tip is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CST while Saturday’s matinee begins at 1 p.m. CST.

The Pack started the game in a dominant fashion, scoring the first seven points. Zach Wrightsil scored first on a fastbreak, then Myles Burns split two defenders with a dunk. A block by Burns on the defensive end led to a 3-pointer for Brandon Davis, and Loyola was off and running. Andrew Fava made his first of four 3-point shots of the game and Davis added two more 3s, giving Loyola a 22-16 lead with 11:48 to go in the first half.

Wrightsil scored the next four points for the Pack and Burns made two free throws to push the lead to 30-18 with 6:54 to go. Fava and Milan Mejia kept Loyola ahead with a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer, respectively, then Wrightsil scored a couple of buckets in the final minutes of the half to send the teams to the locker room with a 39-30 Wolf Pack lead.

Spring Hill stayed close to start the second half, but five quick points from Fava and a pair of made shots by Burns and Wrightsil helped the Pack maintain a slight advantage, 48-42, through the first five minutes. From there, Loyola outscored the Badgers 43-24 for the rest of the game.

It started with a 12-3 run with five different scorers for the Pack, as Jalen Galloway, Terry Smith Jr., Zach Muller, Wrightsil and Davis all scored to quickly make it a 60-45 game. With 11 minutes left in the game, Loyola scored 11 more points in a two-minute span to extend the lead to 71-49. Wrightsil’s dunk with seven minutes to go gave Loyola a 78-55 lead, then Leonard Jackson and Eddie Burgess got on the board to go up 83-62 with 3:40 left.

PACK FACTS
– Brandon Davis and Zach Wrightsil tied for the team lead with 17 points each.

– Wrightsil now has 1,527 career points to put him eighth all-time in program history. He also hit seven of his 11 shots Tuesday to notch his second game in a row with 17 points. He’s scored in double figures in every game this season

– Davis, who hit a season-high five triples tonight, has scored at least 17 points in his last three games. He also tied a season-high with three steals.

– Terry Smith Jr. also moved up in the career points category. Thanks to six points against Spring Hill, he now has 1,383 during his time at Loyola to make him 14th all-time.

– Not to be outdone, Myles Burns made it three Wolf Pack players to move up in the record book, moving up to 17th all-time with 1,341 career points.

– Andrew Fava went 4-of-10 from behind the arc while scoring 16 points. It’s his third game this season hitting at least four three-pointers.

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