Loyola battles No. 7 LSUS tough Wednesday

SHREVEPORT, La. – The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team took a break from conference play on Wednesday, losing a close contest to No. 7 LSU Shreveport, 78-74, on the road. The Wolf Pack will continue non-conference against in-state competition on Saturday, hosting LSU Alexandria at 2 p.m. in The Den. 
 

Saturday's game has been dubbed the Men's Basketball Alumni Game, as the program will welcome back former Wolf Pack men's basketball student-athletes for a weekend of celebration. More information and tickets for the event can be purchased here. 
 

Kameron Johnson scored five quick points, including a 3-pointer, and Eddie Burgess had four early points to bring the game to a 9-9 tie in the first three-plus minutes. An Alex Hammond 3-pointer flipped the lead for the fifth time in the early going, then the sophomore hit another one from long-ranged to give Loyola a 15-11 advantage. 
 

Loyola continued to shoot the lights out, starting the game 13-for-18 from the field and 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. Cameron Williams made a 3, 22-17, then scores by Burgess, Johnson and Hammond put Loyola ahead by 12, 32-20, halfway through the half. Julian Baldwin kept it a 12-point game moments later, and Braelee Albert scored three consecutive trips down the floor to extend it to 13, 40-27, with a little more than five minutes left. After Loyola missed its first 3-pointer of the game on its sixth attempt, Bradley Alcime answered with one for his first points of the game, 43-30. Hammond added another 3 to help bring the score to 46-34 in Loyola's favor by halftime. 
 

LSUS quickly cut its deficit to single digits with back-to-back scores in the first 50 seconds, then the hosts made it a five-point game, 48-43, in the next minute and a half. The Pack started to get things going after back-to-back 3s from Albert, 56-45, then Baldwin made it a 13-point game again with 13 minutes left on the clock. Six straight points by the Pilots, though, made it a seven-point Wolf Pack lead, 58-51, by the halfway point of the second half. 
 

Loyola clung to its lead over the next five minutes, as LSUS made it a one-possession game a few times, but free throws by Williams and Hammond and scores from Albert and Baldwin kept the Pack ahead. The Pilots would eventually tie the game, 68-68, around the three-minute mark and take their first lead since the early minutes of the first half a minute later. It became a seven-point lead for LSUS, 75-68, with more than a minute to go, but six quick points from Hammond made it a one-point deficit with 45 seconds left. After the lead became three again, Loyola's 3-pointer to tie the game in the final few seconds rimmed out. 
 

Pack Facts

• The first half saw some of the best shooting of the season for the Wolf Pack, as the team was 7-for-9 from three and 19-of-33 from the field

• Alex Hammond led the game in scoring, earning a new career high with 22 points after shooting 7-for-11 from the field. 

• Hammond also finished 4-of-5 from the three-point arc, setting a new career high for threes in a game. 

• Kameron Johnson had his best offensive output of the season with 14 points to go along with a game-high nine assists and two steals. 

• Braelee Albert also had 14 points, going 6-of-8 from the field.

• Seven rebounds for Eddie Burgess were his most in a game since January 2021. 
   

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