Men’s basketball uses strong second half to earn win Thursday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team earned a Southern States Athletic Conference win in The Den Thursday night, defeating Point University (Ga.), 90-83. Trailing at halftime, the Wolf Pack outscored the Skyhawks 55-43 in the second half to improve their overall record to 14-4 overall and 6-2 in league play. 
 

Loyola will continue league play on Saturday when it hosts Brewton-Parker Christian at 2 p.m. 
 

The Wolf Pack found themselves in an early hole, trailing 10-2 after the first three and a half minutes. After a Cameron Williams free throw, Kosta Bjelicic cut the deficit in half, 10-5, a couple of minutes later. Williams hit a 3 to make it a four-point game, 12-8, then Kameron Johnson scored five straight, including a 3-pointer, to tie the game at 13-all with 11-plus minutes until halftime. Georgios Vassilakis gave Loyola its lead, but Point pulled back ahead until Leonard Jackson flipped the lead again, 21-19, with a 3-pointer at the 8:19 mark of the first half. 
 

A 3 by Johnson and another score from Williams kept the Wolf Pack in front for the time being, 26-23, then after Point took another lead, those two scored again to tie the game at 30-30. The guests went on a 10-2 run after that, though, as a scored by Jackson brought the Point advantage to 40-35 at the break. 
 

Reece Seicshnaydre hit a 3 in the opening seconds, and Kosta Bjelicic scored a tough bucket to tie the game, 40-40, in the first 40 seconds of the second half. Jackson scored to give Loyola the lead, however, Point pulled back ahead by seven 51-44, four minutes into the new period. 
 

Loyola used a 12-0 run after that to grab the lead for good, 56-51. Jackson and Seicshnaydre both hit 3s, and Johnson, Bjelicic and Jaylen Peters all scored as well. Peters' score was an alley-oop from Johnson that brought the fans in The Den to their feet. Jackson hit another 3, and Johnson and Bjelicic combined to score 14 more points to give Loyola a 10-point advantage, 73-63, with nine minutes left in the game. 
 

The Skyhawks went nearly four minutes without scoring, which allowed the score to get up to 77-63. Johnson and Seicshnaydre added two more 3-pointers to give Loyola its largest lead, 84-68, with less than five minutes to go. Point was able to cut its deficit down six, 84-78, with 1:25, but a 3-pointer from Jackson essentially iced the game. 
 

Pack Facts

• Kameron Johnson put together another stellar overall performance, scoring a game-high 23 points to go along with 11 assists, seven rebounds, a steal and a block. It was his second double-double of the season.

• Johnson became the seventh Wolf Pack player to reach 300 career assists and now sits in sixth place on the Pack's all-time assists list with 309. 

• Kosta Bjelicic scored a season-high 20 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the field, while also grabbing eight rebounds. 

• Leonard Jackson continued his hot shooting stretch, hitting 5-of-8 from downtown while totaling 17 points. That's his tenth straight game in double figures. He also blocked two shots. 

• Reece Seicshnaydre posted a new career high in rebounds (9) to go along with 12 points, four assists, and two steals. 

• Cameron Williams put up 10 points and eight rebounds while spending most of the game matched up with Point's top scorer, who was held to 5-of-16 from the field. 

• While the Wolf Pack were down five at half, the Pack outscored the Skyhawks 55-43 in the second half. It was the team's highest-scoring half of the season.