Box Score Jalen Gray (SR/New Orleans, La.) powers the Wolf Pack with 22 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's conference victory.
The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team's latest 90-52 victory over Brewton-Parker University on Thursday gave the Wolf Pack the much-needed momentum for their next conference matchup.
Loyola hosted Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) rival the College of Coastal Georgia on First NBC Court on Saturday, a Mariners team who was desperately seeking its first conference victory of the season.
Gritty play down the stretch kept the visiting team in the contest for much of the night, but the Wolf Pack's late game execution kept the Mariners at bay, eventually leading to the 83-78 victory on its home court.
With the win, Loyola now improves to 14-7 overall and 7-5 in SSAC games this season.
The rare perimeter jump shot by Johnny Griffin Jr. (SR/Chicago, IL.) gave the Wolf Pack the 10-3 advantage two minutes into the opening half.
A layup by Nate Pierre (SR/Folsom, La.) gave the home team the 12-3 edge at the 16:30 mark of the first half. The home team continued to put their foot on the gas pedal as they went up by as many as 14 (30-16) after a layin by Tre'Von Jasmine (SO/Edgard, La.) off the feed by Pierre with 8:23 to go before intermission.
Over the final eight minutes, the Wolf Pack was outscored 21-14, after several late turnovers trimmed the deficit to seven (44-37) heading into the locker room.
Loyola shot 37.8% (14-of-37) from the field and connected on 14-of-17 (82.4%) from the free throw line. The home team also held a slight advantage of 23-21 on the boards in the first half.
Griffin Jr. led the charge with 12 points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.
The Wolf Pack saw its lead trimmed even further as a three-pointer by the Mariner's Jonathan Canada brought the score to 44-40 in the first minute of the second half.
A layup by Jalen Gray and a three-pointer by Ethan Turner (SO/Covington, La) capped off a 7-0 spurt by the home team, putting them up 51-40 with 17:38 left in the contest.
Free throws by Gray put Loyola up 78-68 with 3:07 left on the game clock, but a 10-4 scoring run by Coastal Georgia narrowed the lead to just four (78-82) with just 10 seconds left in the game.
Griffin Jr. split a pair of free throws and the defense by the Wolf Pack on the other end secured the 83-78 victory over the Mariners.
For the game, the Wolf Pack shot 41.4% (24-of-58) from the field and 23.5% (4-of-17) from beyond the arc. The team also converted 31-of-44 (70.5%) free throws but were outrebounded 49-37 on the glass in Saturday's win.
Gray led all scorers with 22 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Griffin Jr. added 18 points and seven rebounds while Eric Brown (SO/Homer, La.) chipped in 12 points off the bench.
Coastal Georgia's offense was paced by Haylen Washington's team-high 19 points.
Loyola will hit the road for the next two games, starting with a rematch against Dalton State on Feb. 2. Tip-off for Thursday's conference showdown is set for 7:30 p.m. in Dalton, Ga.
