Box Score After playing Tuesday night, Wednesday night's tilt with North American University served as a warm-up for back-to-back games in conference play starting this weekend
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team didn't hold back against North American University. The ninth-ranked Wolf Pack took down the Stallions 142-69 in The Den to move to 6-0.
After playing Tuesday, Wednesday's tilt gave the Wolf Pack experience playing back-to-back nights. That's important because starting Friday, the Southern States Athletic Conference schedule features Friday-Saturday games for the rest of the season. The Wolf Pack will begin SSAC play Friday at 7 p.m. in The Den against Blue Mountain College, then the two will play again Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Wolf Pack began the game hot, taking a 10-point lead through the first four and a half minutes of play. Andrew Fava started the game with a 3-pointer, Josh Tolbert scored five quick points, and a combination of Zach Wrightsil, Myles Burns and Terry Smith Jr. helped the Pack take a 20-10 lead.
Loyola extended the lead to 20 points with seven minutes left in the first half. Tim Cameron hit back-to-back shots, including a 3-pointer, and Milan Mejia added another 3 to make it a 40-20 game. Cameron stole an NAU pass and finished with an easy dunk during that run, then Luke Ladner, who scored 16 points in the contest, drilled a 3-pointer to continue the hot shooting.
That was all a part of a 23-3 run, then the Wolf Pack finished the first 20 minutes of the game on a separate 22-7 run to close out the half with a 74-36 lead.
The hot shooting continued with a 26-3 run through the first seven minutes of the second half. Six different Wolf Pack players scored during that run, too, as Fava drilled three 3-pointers while Burns scored six straight points.
Leading 124-61, Loyola finished the game on an 18-7 run thanks to six points from Andrew Stagni and buckets from Zach Muller, Matt Maturah, Zach Holloway and Ladner.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Stacy Hollowell
"We returned from a one month break on Dec. 26 and immediately played Southern Miss. It was apparent that our conditioning was not there and our decision making followed our conditioning. We've spent time trying to build our conditioning back and emphasizing defense and rebounding. These two games (Tuesday and Wednesday) help us further our conditioning goals and prepare us for the back-to-back games that we'll play Friday and Saturday going forward in conference."
Pack Facts
The Wolf Pack broke a school record for the second straight night, beating NAU by 73 points for another program-best.
Loyola shot 57.3 percent from the field (55-96), holding North American to just 32.1 percent (25-78).
For the second night in a row, all 13 members of the Pack who played Wednesday scored, with seven in double figures, including Myles Burns (25), Luke Ladner (16), Zach Wrightsil and Terry Smith Jr. (14 each), Andrew Fava and Tim Cameron (12 each), and Josh Tolbert (11).
Burns also grabbed 12 rebounds for the game's only double-double. Eddie Burgess was one point away from a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Wrightsil added eight boards and a game-high seven assists. Tolbert was right behind him with six assists and a game-high four steals.
Loyola out-rebounded North American 69-31, with five Loyola players grabbing eight or more boards.
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