Box Score The Loyola men's basketball team pulled away from Gold Rush late in the second half to help start the season 2-0
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team got an early-season test Tuesday night at Xavier, playing a close game with their New Orleans rival until pulling away late. Loyola earned a tough 67-58 over the Gold Rush to improve its record to 2-0 early in the season.
The Pack got off to a good start thanks to two buckets from Brandon Davis and Zach Wrightsil and a 3-pointer by Andrew Fava to take a 7-2 lead. Fava's 3-point shooting played a huge role in the game, as the graduate student nailed five in the contest. From there, Loyola would keep a 3- to 4-point lead for the next couple of minutes, getting scores from Davis, Wrightsil and Myles Burns, but Xavier was able to take its first lead of the game, 14-13, with 11:31 left in the half.
The two teams would exchange the lead a couple of times in the final 10 minutes, as neither team would take a lead larger than six. With Xavier up 26-20, Fava made his second 3 with 3:34 to go in the half, then free throws by Josh Leaney and Cameron Dumas helped give the Wolf Pack a 33-22 lead at the break.
The Gold Rush quickly jumped back out to a 5-point lead two and a half minutes into the second half, but Loyola tied the game, 38-38, with a Wrightsil score and Fava's third 3-pointer. Xavier took its last lead of the game, 42-40, with 12 minutes to play before the 3s started to fall again for the Wolf Pack. Jalen Galloway made it a 43-42 Loyola lead, and Fava followed with consecutive 3-pointers in a 20-second span to push the advantage to 56-46 with seven minutes on the clock.
Davis, Burns and Wrightsil combined for eight points over the next six minutes to help keep the lead, 64-54, and Leaney and Fava hit free throws late to ice the game.
The Wolf Pack will continue the theme of playing crosstown rivals Thursday, traveling to Dillard for a 6 p.m. tip.
Pack Facts
Andrew Fava poured in a game-high 18 points while hitting five of his 12 three-point attempts.
Myles Burns and Zach Wrightsil were Loyola's two other double-figure scorers. Wrightsil was the Wolf Pack's second-leading scorer with 13 points. He also had four assists and six rebounds. Burns scored 10.
Burns also got it done on the defensive side of the ball, coming up with four steals and three blocks. Seven of his eight rebounds, however, were on the offensive glass.
As a team, the Wolf Pack stole the ball 16 times after a 19-steal performance against North American on Saturday. Loyola only had one game last year with at least 15 steals.
The team also recorded nine blocks, which is the most since the nine-block game against LSU Alexandria on November 16, 2020.
In addition to the three blocks from Burns, Josh Leaney also had three, Wrightsil had two, and Jalen Galloway had one.
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.
