Box Score Turner sets another career high with 20 points as the Wolf Pack improves to 2-0 on the season.
In a rematch of the road game a little over a week ago, Southern University at New Orleans traveled to The Den on Monday night to take on the Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team on the Wolf Pack's home court.
After setting a career high of 19 points in the two teams' last matchup, Ethan Turner (JR/Covington, La.) bested that performance by one point, setting a new career high of 20 points to help the Wolf Pack secure the 90-83 victory. Chase Eckholdt (SR/Mandeville, La.) also tied a career high with 16 points in the win.
Loyola improves to 2-0 to start the season off well, while the Knights fall to 0-2 with the loss.
The win was anything but easy for the Wolf Pack, however, as neither team held a double digit lead at any point in a game where the lead changed hands many times. But shortly after a six-point run by the Knights gave them a 26-20 lead about halfway through the first half, Loyola went on a run of their own, outscoring SUNO 14-3 to take their largest lead of the game at 44-36. The Wolf pack never allowed the Knights' lead to eclipse 6 points following that run.
Neither team was able to establish too much of a rhythm because of consistent foul trouble throughout the game. 62 total fouls were called in the game, with 26 being called on Loyola and 36 on SUNO after many fouls were used late in the game to try to stop the clock. The 46 free throw attempts for Loyola compared to 27 for SUNO proved to be significant, as 33 were converted for 71.7% compared to only 18 makes for SUNO (66.7%).
The home team also dominated the rebounding battle, with the Wolf Pack grabbing 47 total rebounds compared to 32 for the Knights. A key 18 of Loyola's rebounds were on the offensive end, creating multiple second chance opportunities that were often converted.
SUNO enjoyed a slight advantage shooting beyond the arc, where the Knights converted 9 of their 19 attempts for a solid 47.4% compared to only 38.9% for the Wolf Pack (7-18). But the abundance of free throws and dominance on the boards were too much for the Knights to overcome.
After Turner's career night, four other members of the Wolf Pack scored in double figures, including Nick Parker (SR/Port Allen, La.) (18 points on 7-12 FGs), Chase Eckholdt (16 points with 12-17 FTs), Tre'Von Jasmine (JR/Edgard, La.) (14), and Terry Smith, Jr. (11).
For the Knights, George Brock led the way again with 20 points and 3 assists, following a 17-point, 7-assist performance in the previous meeting between the two teams. Marcel Daniels added 15 and D'ante Russell-Hall contributed 10.
Loyola travels to Dillard University for its next game this Wednesday, Nov. 8, with the game scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
