Box Score The No. 2-ranked Wolf Pack men's basketball team pulled away from William Carey in the second half to advance to the SSAC Championship semifinals
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team played a close first half with ninth-seeded William Carey, but the Pack used a strong second-half performance to win the quarterfinal matchup against the Crusaders, 78-59. The Pack (29-1) will now play No. 4-seed Stillman College at 3 p.m. on Friday in Montgomery, Alabama.
Myles Burns made his presence known immediately, making his first 3-pointer of the game and forcing a 10-second violation on defense on the two teams' first possession of the game. Terry Smith Jr. scored the next three points for the team, then Burns hit another 3 to quickly up the Pack up 9-0 in the first four minutes. William Carey, though, woke up and tied the game at 10-all, but Burns made his third 3-pointer near the 14-minute mark to put Loyola back ahead, 13-10.
The Crusaders tied the game twice over the course of the next couple of minutes, taking their first lead, 18-15, with eight-plus minutes left until halftime. Cameron Dumas tied the game, 20-20, and Andrew Fava made his first 3-pointer to switch the lead in Loyola's favor with 5:30 to go, but WCU jumped back ahead with back-to-back 3s. Burns then scored six points down the stretch to help take a 30-28 lead into the break.
Two scores by Wrightsil and a 3-pointer from Fava put the Pack up eight, 37-29, but the game remained close to start the second half. William Carey eventually tied the game, 39-39, four minutes into the half. After Davis hit two 3s in a one-minute span to quickly put the Pack up six, the Crusaders made it a four-point game, 49-45, at the 12-minute mark of the period. That would be the last time WCU was that close to Loyola's score, as the Pack made it a 10-point game after another Davis 3-pointer, 57-47, two-plus minutes later.
Zach Muller's six straight points helped make it a 14-point lead with eight minutes to play, and he scored again a few possessions later to put the Pack up 15, 63-48. Burns and Smith then combined for the next eight points over the next three minutes to maintain the double-digit lead, 72-56. With two minutes to go, Davis, Muller and Jalen Galloway put the game away.
Pack Facts
Loyola has won the opening game of the last seven SSAC Championship tournaments.
Myles Burns recorded his 11th double-double of the season, with another great stat line of 24 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and six steals.
It was the second-best scoring effort of the season for Burns, who also hit three triples, tying a career-high.
Brandon Davis also knocked down three shots from behind the arc, scoring 11 points. Loyola had eight three-point makes in total, with Andrew Fava adding the other two.
Zach Muller played well off the bench, scoring 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting with four rebounds and three steals.
Zach Wrightsil came into the game with 1,990 career points scored, and he finished with exactly 10 points scored against William Carey, bringing the Wolf Pack's all-time leading scorer to an astounding 2,000-points total in his time in New Orleans.
Terry Smith Jr. scored nine points with six rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting. Smith is now seventh on Loyola's all-time scoring list with 1,601 points in his career.
As a team, the Wolf Pack grabbed 19 steals, the highest total since Feb. 8 when the team had 28 takeaways. The team remains first in the NAIA in that category with 14.2 steals per game.
SSAC Men's Basketball Championship
Tickets | Live Stream
Wednesday, Feb. 23
Game 1 | #9 William Carey def. #8 Blue Mountain 63-57
Game 2 | #7 Dalton State def. #10 Brewton-Parker 87-56
Thursday, Feb. 24
Game 3 | #4 Stillman def. #5 Mobile 82-79
Game 4 | #1 Loyola def. #9 William Carey 78-59
Game 5 | #2 Talladega def. #7 Dalton State 70-58
Game 6 | #3 Faulkner def. #6 Middle Georgia 89-69
Friday, Feb. 25
Game 7 | 3 p.m. | #4 Stillman v. #1 Loyola
Game 8 | 7 p.m. | #2 Talladega v. #3 Faulkner
Saturday, Feb. 26
Championship | 6:30 p.m. | Winner of Gm 6 v. Winner of Gm 7
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