Box Score The No. 5 Loyola Wolf Pack found themselves trailing at halftime, but the Pack outscored Stillman College 50-36 in the final 20 minutes to earn the win
NEW ORLEANS – In a battle of two teams atop the Southern States Athletic Conference West standings, the fifth-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack defeated Stillman College 85-77 Friday night in The Den.
The win moved the Wolf Pack to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in SSAC play, while the loss Friday was the Tigers' (6-1, 5-1) first loss of the season. These two will meet back up Saturday at 5 p.m. for the second of two weekend home contests for the Wolf Pack.
Stillman jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, but the Wolf Pack answered by tying the game at 12 seven minutes into the game. Eddie Burgess, Myles Burns and Andrew Fava contributed to that early run, as Burns' two made shots were both after offensive rebounds while Fava got his first 3-pointer of the game.
Zach Wrightsil made two free throws to tie the game at 16 with more than nine minutes left in the half, and Tim Cameron gave the Wolf Pack their first lead of the game 30 seconds later, 18-16. Tensley Aldridge finished one off the glass to break a 22-22 tie, and a couple of minutes later Burgess gave Loyola a 32-30 lead after cleaning up his own miss.
In a half that had seven lead changes and five ties, Stillman went into halftime with a 41-35 lead.
The second half was all Loyola, however, outscoring Stillman 50-36. The Pack shot 19-for-29 (65.5 percent) from the field, including 6-of-8 from the 3-point line, while the Tigers were 14-for-35 (40 percent) and 2-of-8 from 3 in the second half.
After Fava started the half with a 3-pointer, Loyola used a quick 10-2 run to take its first lead of the second half. Moments later, Aldridge made his first of four second-half 3-point shots to give the Pack the lead for good, 48-46. Less than 30 seconds later, Cameron found Aldridge for an easy fastbreak layup to make it 50-46, and the Tigers only got to within two points of Loyola once more in the game.
Aldridge got another 3-pointer to go with 11 minutes to play, this time off the backboard to extend the lead to double digits for the first time, 64-53. Aldridge and Fava went back-to-back from the 3-point line a couple of minutes later, pushing the lead to its largest, 81-63.
The Tigers did cut into the deficit with 2:38 to go, making it a 9-point game, but an offensive rebound and score from Terry Smith Jr. with 1:12 to play put it out of reach.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Stacy Hollowell
"I'm really proud of our second-half performance. The guys bought in fully to the game plan and were able to recognize some success because of it. In the first half, we had some breakdowns defensively that created some trust issues, but in the second half we locked into our roles and were able to turn the game around. It was nice to have a balanced scoring attack, and if we can cut down on turnovers I feel like we can be successful in the long run."
Pack Facts
Four Wolf Pack players scored in double digits: Tensley Aldridge led the way with 19, and Tim Cameron, Zach Wrightsil, and Terry Smith Jr. each scored 14.
Aldridge was 5-9 from beyond the three-point arc to lead all players.
Myles Burns came close to a double-double, putting up eight points and nine rebounds. He added three assists, three steals, and three blocks.
Burns and Wrightsil, who had eight rebounds, are now both tied for fourth all-time with 647 career rebounds each.
Wrightsil also jumped two spots in the Loyola record book into 17th in all-time points scored, now with 1,246 for his career.
Loyola, the No. 1 team in the NAIA in rebounding margin, out-rebounded Stillman 50-29.
You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
