Box Score With an 81-70 opening round win, the Wolf Pack will face the winner of the Dalton State and Martin Methodist game tomorrow at 3 p.m.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - In the first quarterfinal game of the 2018 Southern States Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship, the Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team defeated Middle Georgia State 81-70 Thursday to advance to tomorrow's semifinal round.
"For us, when our defense and rebounding are good we're at our best," said head coach Stacy Hollowell. "Tonight, we held them to 30% from the field, and were able to hold them off of the three point line."
The Wolf Pack (16-12, 11-6), the number three seed in the tournament, jumped on the board first thanks to senior Robert White. The Knights (15-13, 9-9) responded minutes later after the two teams exchanged turnovers to even it up at two apiece. After Trey LaForge sunk a shot from beyond the arc, Tre'Von Jasmine grabbed an offensive board and laid it in to make it 7-2.
Middle Georgia rolled one in before Jasmine ran down the court on the ensuing possession, driving and dropping one in off the glass to make it 9-4. With the Pack adding two more, Ethan Turner responded to free throws by the Knights with a three to give Loyola a 14-6 advantage. Five more by Middle Georgia and two Loyola threes would make it 20-11 before the Pack began to pull away.
A deep ball by Eric Brown followed by a Terry Smith Jr. and-one made it 26-11, before Brown hit another from three. While the Knights would respond with a three pointer of their own, Brown's hot hand continued on a long shot before Smith converted a layup on a turnover by Middle Georgia. A free throw from the Knights brought the score to 34-15, but LaForge connected on his second shot from three, with Turner finding Ben Fields down low, capping off a 20-4 run by the Pack.
While three scores in the final minutes of play from Middle Georgia cut the Loyola lead, the Pack entered the locker rooms up 40-27.
To open the second half Nick Parker converted an and-one opportunity after a steal before the Knights added five points back. Turner would score on two consecutive possessions to push the lead out to 15 before a block by Fields and eventual score by Parker made it 50-34 moments later.
With just over 12 minutes left to play in the game, Turner hit one of two free throws, with Laforge finding White moments later for the bucket to make it 58-38. The Knights would cut into the Wolf Pack lead, bringing it within nine after a 15-4 run with six minutes remaining.
Two free throws by Chase Eckholdt followed by two more from the charity stripe from Parker put Loyola up 11 with four and a half left to play. Off of a turnover from the Knights, Eckholdt added two points for the Pack, before Middle Georgia responded with three on a field goal and eventual free throw. Smith converted on a layup to make it 70-58, before the Knights hit one of two from the line again, and later connected for three.
Fouled on back-to-back possessions, Jasmine hit four of four free throws to make it 74-62, before a quick five-point play by Parker on two free throws, a steal, and an and-one conversion. Loyola would hold on to their lead as the clock wound down, claiming the 11-point victory 81-70 to advance to tomorrow's semifinal round.
"We finished with a tough regular season schedule with both Dalton State and Faulkner on the road, and William Carey who has been hot," said Hollowell. "To string two wins together now is a positive for us, and hopefully it's something we can build upon going forward."
The Pack will face the winner between the two seed Dalton State and seven seed Martin Methodist tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Parker, the First Team All-SSAC selection, led the way for the Pack in scoring today with 16, adding seven rebounds and three steals. Now with 1,437 points in his career, the senior moves into ninth place on the all-time scoring list in program history. Parker also entered the top-10 in career assists today with 208, moved into third place in career steals with 156, and is up to sixth in career three pointers made with 185.
Brown added 13 for the Pack today, with Jasmine and Turner each scoring 11, while Fields led the team in rebounds with 11.
Darrell White led the Knights in scoring with 29, sinking 11 of 13 shots from the free throw line.
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