Box Score After Friday's 30-point win, the ninth-ranked Wolf Pack has won every home game by double-digits this season
NEW ORLEANS – The No. 9 Loyola Wolf Pack continued their busy week in The Den Friday, taking down Blue Mountain College 91-61 in the first game of a back-to-back. The two teams will match back up Saturday at 2 p.m. in The Den, which is the new normal for weekend SSAC games this season.
Loyola is now 6-0 overall and 1-0 in Southern States Athletic Conference play.
Andrew Fava, once again, got Loyola's scoring going early with three 3-pointers through the first seven minutes of the game. Fava scored the Wolf Pack's first points with a 3, then Terry Smith Jr. added one to give the Pack an 8-2 lead.
Four minutes later, Fava made his third 3-pointer to extend the lead to 21-7, prompting a Blue Mountain timeout. Loyola was 7-of-12 from the floor when BMC called the timeout at the 13:48 mark while the Toppers were only 3-for-11. Once action resumed, Tim Cameron lobbed a near-alley-oop to Zach Wrightsil, who grabbed the pass and laid it in while getting fouled. Wrightsil converted the and-1 opportunity, giving the Pack a 23-9 lead.
A couple of minutes later Smith hit his second 3-pointer of the game, pushing the advantage to 38-18, then the Wolf Pack went on a slight scoring drought. After shooting the ball red-hot for the first 11 minutes of the game, Loyola went the next three minutes with just one field goal. The Toppers couldn't take advantage, though, only scoring six points during that span.
Burgess added a putback with six minutes left in the half to make it a 40-18 game, then Fava nailed another 3 to push the score to 43-21. The Toppers, however, ended the first half on a 14-6 run to slightly chip into the Wolf Pack's lead. Loyola finished the first half with a 45.9 field goal shooting percentage while holding the Toppers to 33.3 percent.
The Wolf Pack started the second half with eight straight points, including a fast-break pull-up jumper from Smith to extend the lead out to 20 again. On the next Wolf Pack possession, Zach Muller grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, giving Loyola 11 offensive boards at that point. Loyola, which ranks third in the nation with more than 18 offensive rebounds per game, finished with 17 Friday.
BMC tried to cut into the Wolf Pack lead midway through the half, but Fava made another 3-pointer to give the Pack a 64-44 lead. Moments later, Luke Ladner checked into the game and made his first 3, as he finished with three 3-pointers and 13 points.
The highlights weren't done either. Smith grabbed a tough offensive rebound between two Toppers, pump-faked, and banked in a shot while getting fouled in the process. He made the free throw, giving the Pack a 71-48 advantage with 6:40 to play. Wrightsil fed Myles Burns for an alley-oop on the next offensive possession, then Ladner scored 10 of the team's next 14 points to push the lead to 87-55 with three minutes left.
Pack Facts
Andrew Fava hit five threes, leading all scorers with a season-high 22 points.
In just eight minutes, Luke Ladner poured in a career-high 13 points, hitting five of his six shots from the field and three of his four triples.
As a team, Loyola knocked down 12 shots from long range. This marks a new season-best for made 3-pointers for the Pack, and it's the most since the team hit 14 treys against Dalton State on January 20, 2020.
Terry Smith Jr. collected his second double-double of the season, and the 16th of his career, posting 20 points and 15 rebounds. Two of Loyola's 12 made threes came from Smith, who only had made two in his career prior to this game.
Second in the NAIA in rebounding margin, the Wolf Pack out-rebounded Blue Mountain 53-31.
Myles Burns and Zach Wrightsil grabbed eight boards each, moving up in the Loyola records in the process. Wrightsil is now seventh in Loyola's all-time rebounds list with 612 career rebounds. Burns, close behind with 610, moved up to eighth.
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.
