Box Score The No. 1-seed Loyola men's basketball team opened the NAIA National Championship tournament with a bang Friday night, easily advancing to Saturday's second round
NEW ORLEANS – The No. 1-seed Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team took care of business Friday night, easily handing Benedictine-Mesa (Ariz.) a loss in their NAIA Opening Round matchup at Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. A part of the 2022 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship, presented by Ballogy, Loyola will now take on No. 9-seed Florida College on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the Round of 16 in Kansas City, Missouri, which is the final site of the tournament.
Loyola came out of the gates hot, quickly building a 17-3 lead in the first five minutes. Andrew Fava made three 3-pointers during that stretch, and Myles Burns scored one of his many highlight-reel dunks as well, but the Redhawks scored six straight points, 17-9, to breifly get back in the game. Brandon Davis ended Mesa's run with back-to-back made shots, and Zach Wrightsil made two of his own to give the Pack a 27-14 lead at the 11-minute mark.
A 3-pointer by Cameron Dumas and field goals by Jalen Galloway and Burns made it a 20-point ballgame, 34-14, as Mesa could only cut the Loyola lead down to 15, which happened twice in the first half before Loyola blew the game open. With the score 50-35 and four minutes until halftime, Zach Wrightsil, Brandon Davis and Burns combined for 11 of the team's next 12 points, 62-38, then Galloway made a shot followed by a 3-pointer to bring the Pack into the half with a 69-40 lead.
With the game never in doubt in the second half, the Wolf Pack continued to pad their stats, as Myles Burns had his third double-double of the season that involved the steals statistic, while Zach Wrightsil was one assist away from his second triple-double of the season. A 3-pointer by Davis and a score from Burns put the Wolf Pack up 33 in the first two minutes of the game, and they played with that much of a lead throughout most of the second half.
Pack Facts
This was the eighth 100-point game of the season for the Wolf Pack.
The Loyola men have started out the NAIA National Championship with a win in three-straight tournaments.
The Pack were led by Myles Burns on both sides of the ball. Burns finished with a season-high 33 points, while also recording his 13th double-double of the season with a 10-steal performance with eight rebounds.
Burns is now third in career points scored in Loyola history with 1,761 total points. He also became the third active member of the Wolf Pack to have 1,000 career rebounds.
The top three spots on Loyola's all-time rebounds list all belong to current players. Burns and Terry Smith Jr. each have 1,008 career rebounds, trailing only Zach Wrightsil, who has grabbed 1,043 boards in his career.
Wrightsil also neared a triple-double, finishing with 26 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, two steals, and one block.
The Prosper, Texas native has scored 617 points this season, fifth in Loyola history, and now owns two of the top five records in single-season points.
Two more players scored in double figures for the Wolf Pack, Brandon Davis (16) and Andrew Fava (12).
Davis also put up five assists, four rebounds, and four steals. He's now in the top five in single-season steals in Loyola's record book, now with 65 takeaways this season.
Fava also moved up in the Wolf Pack records after knocking down three shots from long range. He's now at 81 three-point makes this season, which is the fifth-most in a season in Loyola history.
NAIA Opening Round: New Orleans Bracket
Friday, March 11:
Game 1 | #9 Florida College def. #8 Evangel (Mo.), 75-72
Game 2 | #1 Loyola def. #16 Benedictine-Mesa (Ariz.), 119-82
Saturday, March 12:
Game 3 | 5 p.m. | #1 Loyola vs. #9 Florida College
All times local (CST)
Winner of Game 3 advances to the Round of 16 in Kansas City, Mo.
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