Men’s basketball earns road win at UT Southern

PULASKI, Tenn. – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team overcame a 10-point second-half deficit on Saturday, defeating Tennessee Southern, 69-61, for their second Southern States Athletic Conference win of the season. Loyola's (5-10, 2-4 in SSAC) next opponent is Point University (3-12, 2-6) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in The Den. 
 

The two teams played a fairly even first half with five lead changes and three ties throughout the first 20 minutes of play. Milan Mejia scored Loyola's first five points, including one from long-range, then a 3 by Cameron Williams put Loyola up on the scoreboard, 10-9, with 12-plus minutes left until halftime. Jarvis Brown hit a 3-ball and another Mejia score after that made it a 17-11 lead a couple of minutes later. After UTS came back, Kameron Johnson broke the 19-19 tie with a bucket, however, the Firehawks closed the first half strong to lead by two at the break, 28-26. 
 

Braelee Albert quickly tied the game in the second half, but five straight points for UT Southern followed. It was a struggle for Loyola over the next couple of minutes, making just one shot on 14 attempts after Albert made that first bucket. By that point, Tennessee Southern held a 44-34 lead with a little more than 11 minutes to go in the game. 
 

From there, though, it was all Loyola. Led by nine points from Mejia and four each from Albert and Kosta Bjelicic, the Wolf Pack went on a 27-7 run to go ahead and take a 61-51 lead with three minutes left. Brown started that run with a 3, then after scores by Bjelicic and Leonard Jackson, Mejia made back-to-back buckets, 47-45, Tennessee Southern. Two 3s by Williams and Mejia put Loyola in front, 51-47, and scores by Bjelicic and Albert kept the momentum on Loyola's side, 57-49, with less than five minutes to go. Johnson and Mejia capped off the run, and even though the Firehawks were able to cut Loyola's lead down to two, 63-61, under a minute, free throws by Albert, Johnson and Williams clinched the win. 

Pack Facts

• Milan Mejia led the Pack with 16 points and three steals while grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.

• It was Mejia's fifth game scoring at least 16 points this year and his third game with at least three steals. 

• Kameron Johnson set a new collegiate career high with 15 points on Saturday, going 6-of-10 from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 at the line.

• Johnson also dished out a game-high four assists.

• Loyola had five players score in double figures, with Braelee Albert, Kosta Bjelicic, and Cameron Williams each putting up 10.