Box Score The No. 21 Loyola Wolf Pack battled Bethel in a tight contest for most of the game, but the Pack was able to make a run late to win the quarterfinal matchup
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The fourth-seeded Loyola Wolf Pack had an early lead in Thursday's SSAC Championship quarterfinal matchup with Bethel, but the fifth-seeded Wildcats came back to make it a tight game. The Pack, however, pushed ahead late to seal a date in the semifinals with the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Faulkner, at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Tim Cameron and Terry Smith Jr. scored Loyola's first four points to set the tone early, as the Wolf Pack (22-9) jumped up 15-4 in the first eight minutes. The Wildcats shot 2-of-16 from the floor during that time, while Loyola was 6-for-14.
After Bethel got its first basket two minutes into the game, Matt Maturah got on the board before Cameron nailed a 3-pointer to extend Loyola's lead to 9-2 in the first six minutes of the game. Myles Burns made back-to-back baskets around two Cameron free throws, with the latter being a put-back after a Maturah miss to make it 15-4. Eddie Burgess provided solid defense in his early stint on the floor, as he entered during that stretch and pulled down four rebounds and blocked a shot in just three minutes of game time.
Loyola pushed the lead to 20-6 at the halfway point of the first half, but Bethel wouldn't go down easily. It outscored the Pack 27-12 over the next 10 minutes and hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left to take its first lead of the game, 33-32, by halftime.
While Loyola fought hard for baskets in the final 10 minutes, Burns and Burgess kept Loyola in the game by their efforts on the boards. Burns finished with 10 rebounds in the first half, while Burgess pulled down six in limited time.
The two teams spent most of the early portion of the second half exchanging the lead, as the score switched side seven times in the first 10 minutes. Smith Jr. scored six points during the back-and-forth play, and his third made shot gave the Pack a 43-42 advantage. Loyola then got three straight fast-break points - two from Burns and a Maturah steal-and-score - to jump back up 50-49. Neither team led by more than three points until Burns made it 54-49 with nine minutes to play.
The Wildcats tied the game at 56 and 58, but the Pack continued to make shots to never relinquish the lead. Loyola pulled down two offensive rebounds, as Zach Wrightsil eventually found the bottom of the net to break the 56-all tie, then a Maturah field goal put Loyola ahead 60-58.
Holding a 62-59 lead, Cameron drilled a 3-pointer with 2:22 to play, then Maturah and Burgess made four free throws to keep it a multi-possession lead with less than a minute to go. For good measure, Maturah made four more shots from the charity stripe to ice the game.
SSAC Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Live Stats | Live Video | Bracket
Wednesday, March 4
Game 1 | #7 William Carey (Miss.) 83, #10 Blue Mountain (Miss.) 77
Game 2 | #8 Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 87, v. #9 Mobile (Ala.) 79
Thursday, March 5
Game 3 | #3 Stillman (Ala.) 80, #6 Middle Georgia State 75
Game 4 | #2 Dalton State (Ga.) 84, William Carey 82
Game 5 | #1 Faulkner (Ala.) 86, Martin Methodist 66
Game 6 | 9:45 p.m. | #4 Loyola (La.) 74, #5 Bethel (Tenn.) 65
Friday, March 6
Game 7 | 3:00 p.m. | #3 Stillman v. #2 Dalton State
Game 8 | 7:00 p.m. | #4 Loyola v. #1 Faulkner
Saturday, March 7
Championship | 6:30 p.m. | Winner Game 7 v. Winner Game 8
Wolf Pack Head Coach Stacy Hollowell
On the difference in the rematch with Bethel:
"For us, this is a little bit of a revenge game. We were able to beat them at our place, but when we went to their place last week, they obliterated us on the glass. We made some adjustments defensively tonight and really focused on the glass. Ultimately, that put us in position to have a chance, even though we missed some free throws, and that's been an issue for us all year. We've been able to get to the line, we just haven't been able to put them inconsistently. The difference tonight, I thought our defense was different and our rebounding was different."
On the matchup with Bethel's bigs:
"We just tried to crowd Cayden Edmonson's space as much as possible and keep Noah Chatman off the glass. Chatman has been on an absolute tear; the last four games of the year, he averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds. Those two kids' growth has been phenomenal, and their effort has been fantastic. You could tell down the stretch, they scored 106 on us and 113 on William Carey, that they just played with a different kind of passion. The way this game started was so high energy. I didn't know if we would be able to sustain that with their physicality, but we hung in there and pulled one out."
On Myles Burns:
"He's fantastic. He's a class kid. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and you can see that throughout the game. You saw how he started the game with so much passion and so much energy. When he's hurt, he's hurt, when he's happy, he's happy, when he's up, he's up, and when he's down, he's down. (Shaking Bethel Head Coach Jeff Britt's hand after fouling out) was a nice gesture from Myles for sure. Coach Britt is a class man, and I wouldn't want to have that any other way. I'm gonna miss those guys when they leave for sure."
On the upcoming game against Faulkner:
"We are going to go look at some film to see if we can clean some things up. They're a super talented team. They do a lot of things well. They have a lot of position players that play the game well at their position and are heady. We'll put our best effort out there and see where the chips fall."
Pack Facts
Myles Burns scored 16 points with 14 rebounds Friday, notching his 10th double-double of the season.
Tim Cameron also recorded a double-double, which was the first of his career, with 14 points and 10 boards.
Cameron was close to his first career triple-double, too, as he tallied seven assists. That gives him 136 for the season, though, moving him to third in the Loyola record book.
Terry Smith Jr. led the Pack with 19 points, which was the most the junior has scored since his 20-point performance against Brewton-Parker on Jan. 30.
Eddie Burgess was big on the boards for Loyola, totaling seven rebounds. That was the most production for the freshman since he set his career-high of 11 rebounds against Southeastern Baptist.
After losing the rebounding battle 41-28 in a loss to Bethel last week, Loyola had 54 to Bethel's 37 Thursday night.
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