BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The 14th-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack earned a crucial road Southern States Athletic Conference win on Saturday, defeating Blue Mountain Christian, 75-64, to improve their league record to 15-3. Loyola (20-5 overall) remains in first place in the SSAC standings, staying one-game clear of second-place Faulkner. The Pack also owns the tiebreaker over the Eagles. 
 

Loyola has two games left on the regular-season schedule, hosting both SSAC contests on Thursday and Saturday in The Den. First, the Wolf Pack will play Dalton State (Ga.) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, then take on Life University on Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day. 
 

The trio of Matthew Mondesir, Michael Harden and Jalen Galloway scored the team's first six points through the game's first 90 seconds, then Alex Hammond got on the board with a 3-pointer a couple of minutes later, 9-7. From there, the game saw eight lead changes and six ties for the rest of the first half.
 

Zach Muller gave Loyola 11-9 and 13-12 leads with four points, and Leonard Jackson's first points tied the game 15-15 midway through the first 20 minutes. Muller, again, flipped the score in Loyola's direction, 19-18, then a Hammond score made it a 21-20 lead with less than six minutes to go. Harden broke a 25-25 tie with two free throws in the final two minutes, but the Toppers tied it to bring the score to 27-27 at the break. 
 

BMCU scored the first four points of the second half, but a combination of Harden and Hammond quickly tied it back up, 31-31, through two and a half minutes. Blue Mountain would take the lead a couple of minutes later, but after a Galloway 3-pointer put Loyola ahead 38-37, the Pack never trailed for the rest of the game. Although, the Toppers would tie the game a couple of times. 
 

An old-fashioned 3-point play for Mondesir put Loyola up 41-37, four points from Muller kept Loyola ahead 46-44, and 3s by Milan Mejia and Jackson brought the score to 54-48 with 10 minutes to play. Free throws for Harden and Milan, as well as a score by Galloway, kept BMCU down, 60-55, too. Once again, Harden and Hammond each scored on back-to-back possessions, 64-57, as the Wolf Pack started to pull away, then a 3-pointer by Harden made it a 10-point Loyola lead, 69-59, with 3:32 to go. Mondesir had four points down the stretch to lock up the win. 
 

Pack Facts

• Saturday's victory clinched the ninth 20-win season in program history. Loyola has earned at least 20 victories in four of the last five seasons, with the only exception being the shortened 2020-21 campaign. 

• A late corner three by Michael Harden got him up to 17 points, a game high. Harden was also a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. 

• Overall, Loyola was 20-for-23 at the stripe. It was the team's eighth time this season making at least 20 free throws. 

• Alex Hammond matched a season best with 14 points. He also led the team with three steals. Hammond is third on the Wolf Pack this season in cumulative steals, with 25 total takeaways on the year. 

• In total, four different Loyola players scored in double figures, with Matthew Mondesir adding 11 and Zach Muller 10. Jalen Galloway and Leonard Jackson each scored nine points. 
   

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