NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team took their first loss of the 2025-26 season Tuesday night, falling to the Dillard Bleu Devils 69-54, on the road. Loyola returns to The Den next week, hosting another cross-town rival, Xavier, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Loyola and Dillard will meet back up on Tuesday, Nov. 25, in The Den, a part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m.
Dillard used hot shooting to get off to a good start, making eight of its first 14 shots to take a 22-11 lead through the first eight minutes of the game. Loyola, which was led by Kosta Bjelicic's six points, shot just 5-for-14 during that time. The Bleu Devils continued to shoot well, making four of their next nine shots while Loyola was 2-for-8 to extend the lead even more, 32-17, with 5:32 left until halftime. Bjelicic got to double figures by that point with four more points.
The two teams played evenly down the stretch of the first half, as Zachary Lee added five points to also get into double figures and make it a 44-28 ballgame at the break.
The Pack had a chance to cut into the score in the second half. They held Dillard to 1-of-11 shooting through the first seven and a half minutes, but they could only make it a 10-point game, 48-38. Six of Loyola's points during that stretch came from the free throw line. Jaylen Peters kept it a 10-point deficit a couple of minutes later, 50-40, but the Bleu Devils still maintained a 54-42 advantage with eight minutes left.
Eventually, though, Dillard found the bottom of the net to pull away for good. It made seven of its last 10 shots while holding Loyola to 3-of-10 shooting to outscore the Wolf Pack 17-12 during the final seven-plus minutes of the game.
Pack Facts
-
Zachary Lee led all scorers with 22 points after making four shots from the field and 14 from the free throw line. He also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
-
It was the second-highest scoring game of Lee's Loyola career and his third collegiate game scoring 20 or more.
-
Kosta Bjelicic made six of his nine attempts from the field to lead the game in field goals, finishing with 15 points and five boards.
-
Kameron Johnson had a game-high five assists to go along with seven rebounds and seven points.
Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >>
https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
