Box Score With Saturday's loss to Stillman, the Tigers and the fifth-ranked Wolf Pack split a pair of weekend games in The Den
NEW ORLEANS – In the second of two weekend matchups, the No. 5 Loyola Wolf Pack dropped Saturday's contest with the Stillman College Tigers 95-82 in The Den. Loyola defeated Stillman Friday night and the two will meet again later this season in Tuscaloosa for two more games.
The Wolf Pack is now 9-2 overall and 4-2 in Southern States Athletic Conference play, while the Tigers are 7-1 and 6-1 in the SSAC.
Myles Burns scored the first five points for Loyola, with the first coming from beyond the 3-point line, then an early Andrew Fava to Tim Cameron connection proved to be successful in the early going of the game. Fava found Cameron with a bounce pass in the lane for a score, then Cameron made an open 3-pointer after a pass from Fava to give Loyola a 14-7 lead five minutes into the game.
An old-fashioned 3-point play from Zach Wrightsil pushed the Pack's lead to 17-10 a minute later, but the Tigers used a quick 8-0 run to grab an 18-17 lead. Holding a 23-18 lead with 11 minutes left in the half, Wrightsil and Burns combined to make five free throws and a Terry Smith Jr. bucket cut the Tigers' advantage to 28-24. The Tigers, though, used a 16-0 run over a four-minute span to grab control of the game.
Loyola ended up trailing 52-34 at halftime.
Loyola got close to cutting the deficit to within single digits a few days in the second half, but Stillman kept the double-digit lead throughout the rest of the game. Trailing by 21 five minutes into the half, Loyola scored seven straight to cut into the lead, 62-48. Loyola got to within 12 a couple of minutes later after a Smith score, then Cameron made it an 11-point deficit with 6:23 to play after converting an and-1 opportunity.
Another old-fashioned 3-point play from Wrightsil made it a 78-67 game with five minutes to play, but Stillman quickly pushed the lead back out to 16 with 2:22 left.
Loyola is set to host William Carey Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. before welcoming Mobile to New Orleans for two games next weekend.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Stacy Hollowell
"A lot of credit goes to Stillman for bouncing back from yesterday's game. We had a formula that worked yesterday and today their big guys came into the game shooting the ball much better than they shot yesterday. They dominated us on the glass and that's been our identity as a team. Today they got 26 second-chance points to our five, and every time we made a run they were able to answer. We'll get back in the gym and start preparing for a very tough and streaking William Carey team."
Pack Facts
Zach Wrightsil led all scorers with a season-high 24 points on 8-12 shooting. He also logged nine rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.
To go along with his 16 points, six boards, and two steals, Myles Burns blocked three shots for the second consecutive night. Now with 82 blocks for his career, Burns moved up into a tie for fourth place in Loyola's all-time blocks list.
Two other Wolf Pack players scored in double figures: Terry Smith Jr. with 14, and Tim Cameron with 11.
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.
