Men’s basketball improves to 2-0 in league play

WEST POINT, Ga. – The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team played first-year Southern States Athletic Conference foe Point University Thursday night, defeating the Skyhawks, 81-63, in the first of two road league games. The Wolf Pack 3-4, 2-0 in SSAC) will now take on another first-year conference team, Thomas University, on Saturday, with tip-off slated for 1 p.m. CST. 
 

Point built an early 12-5 lead through the first four-plus minutes of play, then a Reece Seicshnaydre score prompted a 10-0 run to give Loyola a 15-12 lead. Five different scorers contributed, as Julian Baldwin, Eddie Burgess, Kameron Johnson and Alex Hammond all had two. Zachary Lee got in on the action to keep Loyola ahead 17-15, but the Skyhawks battled to tie the game at 17-all by the 10-minute mark. 
 

After that, Loyola pushed ahead 30-21 thanks to a 13-6 run, with Milan Mejia drilling three 3-pointers and Hammond adding two field goals. Point, however, battled back again, this time using a 10-2 run to make it a one-point ballgame, 32-31, with 2:39 until halftime. Three points each by Hammond and Johnson ended the Skyhawk's spurt and a score by Mejia capped off an 8-0 run to end the half on a good note, 40-31. 
 

Point started the second half by cutting the Wolf Pack lead to 45-41 through the first two and a half minutes, but four from Hammond and Braelee Albert's first points kept Loyola ahead by multiple possessions, 49-43, five minutes in. After that, another 3-pointer by Mejia and scores from Albert and Lee extended the advantage to 12, 58-46, and scores by Mejia and Burgess made it a 15-pint lead, 62-47, at the halfway point of the half. 
 

It was a 21-point lead by the five-minute mark. Loyola got points from Hammond, Williams, Baldwin and Lee for an 8-2 run to make it a tough hole for Point to climb out from. The two teams traded points from there, as Burgess scored the next four points, followed by another Hammond bucket and five points from Johnson to close out the game. 
 

Pack Facts

• This is the fifth consecutive season in which the Wolf Pack started the season winning its first two SSAC contests. 

• Milan Mejia led the Wolf Pack with 19 points, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point range. It was the first game of his career not missing a single three-point attempt. 

• Overall, Loyola shot 7-of-9 (78%) from three-point range. This ties the highest single-game 3PT shooting percentage for the Wolf Pack in the modern statistical era (since 2003). Loyola also had a 7-9 shooting night in a win against Mobile on Feb. 7, 2009. 

• Alex Hammond was second on the team with 18 points, making 8-of-14 from the floor with a team-high three assists and three steals. 

• Kameron Johnson hit two of his three attempts from distance to finish with 10 points.

• After seven and eight points in his last two games, Eddie Burgess put up a new season high of 10 points on Thursday. 

• Julian Baldwin grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, marking a new season best, to go along with eight points.