Box Score Wolf Pack loses season-worst third straight game in the final seconds to the Blue Mountain Toppers.
The Loyola New Orleans Wolf Pack men's basketball team came into Saturday's matchup with the Blue Mountain College Toppers hoping to regain their footing in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) standings. The men's squad was also looking to avoid a three-game losing streak after their latest 80-72 loss to No. 24 William Carey College on Thursday night.
It was a rugged battle for both teams throughout the game, but a go-ahead jumper by Blue Mountain's Jay Howard lifted his team over the Wolf Pack 62-60, sending the home team to its third-straight loss.
After tonight's loss, Loyola drops to 12-7 overall and 5-5 in SSAC games this season.
It took two minutes for either team to break the scoring seal, as the Toppers scored the first points of the contest with a three pointer to take the early lead at 3-0.
Nate Pierre (SR/Folsom, La.) threw a pass down low to Johnny Griffin Jr. (SR/Chicago, IL.) who finished with a layup to put the home team on the board and bring the score to 3-2 with 17:32 on the clock.
Loyola managed only seven points in the first 10 minutes of action until a block by Griffin Jr. got his team going on the fastbreak. Griffin Jr. finished the play with a one-handed slam off the feed from Jalen Gray (SR/New Orleans, La.), bringing the score to 10-9 at the 9:56 mark of the opening frame.
The Wolf Pack trailed the Toppers 21-20 in the final 44 seconds of the first half. Gray split his way through the Blue Mountain defense to score the layup plus the foul with just one second to go until halftime. The free throw gave Loyola the 23-21 advantage heading into intermission.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the opening frame with the Wolf Pack shooting 9-of-26 (34.6%) and Blue Mountain College connecting on just 8-of-26 (31.7%) shots.
Griffin Jr. led his team with eight points and six rebounds in the opening half.
Loyola opened the second 20 minutes of play with the two-man game between Griffin Jr. and Tre'Von Jasmine (SO/Edgard, La.). Griffin Jr. finished off the dish from Jasmine with another big-time throwdown plus the foul to put the home team on top 25-21 in the first minute of the second half.
The road team responded with a three pointer just as the shot-clock expired to quickly cut the lead to one at 24-25.
Back-to-back field goals by Robert White (JR/Los Angeles, Ca.) gave the Wolf Pack its largest lead of the contest at 35-27 with 13:32 to go in the ballgame.
The Toppers went on to outscore the home team 17-9 over the next eight minutes, tying the ballgame at 44-44. Blue Mountain College took the lead at 46-44 with 5:21 on the game clock.
The road team led 57-50 with 1:49 remaining in the game. Gray scored nine of the team's next 10 points to tie the game at 60-60 with 18 seconds left on the clock.
But the Toppers had the final response. A pull-up jumper by Howard gave his team the 62-60 advantage. Loyola was unable to execute in the final seconds leading to the 62-60 defeat at home.
The Wolf Pack managed to improve their shooting in the second half, going 23-of-52 (44.2%) from the field and 5-of-14 (35.7%) from beyond the arc for the game. They loss the battle on the glass by a narrow margin of 30-28.
Gray scored 15 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, while Griffin Jr. chipped in 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Pierre, Ethan Turner (SO/Covington, La) and White tallied six points each in the loss..
Loyola will look to right the ship on Jan. 26 as they welcome conference rival Brewton-Parker to First NBC Court on Thursday. Tip-off for Thursday's matchup is set for 7:30 p.m.
