Box Score Loyola held the lead until midway through the second half against one of the top teams in the nation
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team opened the 2018-19 season with a hard-fought match across town at No. 11-ranked Dillard on Thursday night in Dent Hall.
The Wolf Pack (0-1) opened up the game with 12 unanswered points, forcing the Bleu Devils (1-0) to call a timeout. Dillard responded with an 8-0 run of their own to make the score 12-8, but the Wolf Pack maintained the lead for the remainder of the first half with efficient shooting combined with active defensive play. Loyola shot 48.3% from the field in the first half and held the home team to just 26.3% as the visitors took a 35-31 lead into the halftime break.
The Bleu Devils started out the second half strong, pulling within one point before the Pack put together 6-0 run, gaining their largest lead of the second half at 45-38. Dillard responded with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 47-apiece. After taking their first lead at 53-51, the Devils would hold the lead for the rest of the game and claim an 87-79 victory despite a strong comeback effort from Loyola.
The Wolf Pack will host Southern University at New Orleans for the season's home opener this Sunday, October 28th at 4 p.m. in The Den.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Stacy Hollowell
"Dillard is nationally ranked, number 11 in the country, and there's a reason for that. They've got a lot of really good players. I thought our kids played with a lot of passion and we did some things to disrupt them, but you can't miss as many free throws as we missed and give up as many second-chance shots as we gave up and still win games. Part of that we can attribute to some early foul trouble with Sammis, he had to sit long stretches. TJ had to sit longer than we would like as well. But I like where we're going. We're a young team and the future is really bright for this group."
Pack Facts
Loyola shot an impressive 45.5% from the field and connected on 30 field goals tonight, a mark they only hit twice last season.
Freshman Myles Burns led the Pack tonight with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
The Houston native scored the most points in a debut for the Wolf Pack since junior-transfer Johnny Griffin Jr. on October 30th, 2015 had 25.
Ethan Turner sunk four from beyond the arc tonight and now has 120 career made threes.
