Loyola puts Southeastern (Fla.) away Tuesday

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team needed a strong finish Tuesday afternoon in Panama City, Florida, and that's exactly what they did in an 89-82 win against Southeastern (Fla.) in the Battle at the Beach event. Loyola is back in action on Monday when it takes the short trip to Dillard for a 7:30 p.m. contest with its New Orleans rival. 
 

The Wolf Pack forced Southeastern to call a timeout after just two and a half minutes of play. They started the game with a 9-0 run thanks to good play from Kameron Johnson, who hit a 3-pointer, delivered two assists and picked up a steal during Loyola's hot start. The Wolf Pack turned that into a 15-2 lead after five minutes of play, as Leonard Jackson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and Milan Mejia hit one from long-range. The Fire shot just 1-for-6 during that opening stretch while Loyola was 6-for-8 and 2-for-3 from the 3-point line. 
 

All five Loyola starters scored by that point of the game, too, with Braelee Albert's sixth point and Jackson's fifth point bringing the score to 21-9 with 13 minutes left in the half. Southeastern started to chip into the lead a little, making six of its next nine shots after its poor shooting start to make it a 22-16 contest halfway through the first half. 
 

Scores by Johnson, Alex Hammond and Cameron Williams brought the lead to 10, 31-21, with six-plus until halftime. Johnson halted a 7-0 run for SEU with a shot off the glass, 33-28, and a Mejia wide-open 3 assisted by Johnson kept it a multiple-possession lead, 38-32, in the final minute. Mejia added a layup off an offensive board to bring the score to 40-34 at the break. 
 

After Jackson started the second half with a 3, Albert scored Loyola's next eight points, including two and-1s, to extend Loyola's advantage to 11, 51-40, through the first four and a half minutes. Johnson's fifth assist led to a Kosta Bjelicic jumper, 53-40, but five quick points by the Fire prompted a Loyola timeout with 13:42 on the clock. Williams and Mejia both hit 3s after that, but the Fire also hit a couple to give Loyola a six-point lead, 59-53, at the halfway point of the second half. 
 

Loyola went on a quick 8-3 run thanks to an old-fashioned 3-point play by Jaylen Peters, two free throws by Albert, and a 3-pointer by Hammond, but the Fire continued to hit 3s on their end of the court to stay close, 69-62. Mejia answered a SEU 3 with one of his own, which was his fourth of the game, to put the Pack back up 10, 72-62, with 6:18 left. The Fire had one more run in them, trimming their deficit to four, 75-71, with three minutes to go, but an off-the-glass shot by Bjelicic and a baseline jumper from Mejia gave Loyola a 79-73 lead with two minutes left. 
 

With 1:15 on the clock, Hammond hit a dagger from beyond the arc, 82-73, to essentially put the game away. 
 

Pack Facts

• Tuesday's win was the 999th win in the history of Loyola men's basketball. 

• Braelee Albert went off for 23 points, a new collegiate career high, while shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, dished out three assists, and blocked a shot. 

• Milan Mejia was second in the game in scoring with 17 points, going 4-of-9 from long range. 

• With this shooting performance, Mejia now has 213 three-pointers in his Wolf Pack career. That's tied for the second-most triples in a career in program history, and he needs 35 more to break the all-time record. 

• Alex Hammond was perfect on his three-point attempts, 2-of-2, and 4-of-6 overall from the field, to finish  with 13 points to go along with seven boards. 

• Leonard Jackson hit double figures for the fourth consecutive game, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. 

• Kameron Johnson filled up the box score with seven points, a team-high six assists, five rebounds, and two steals. 

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