NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team lost their first Southern States Athletic Conference game of the season on Thursday, dropping a 68-62 contest to the Mobile Rams in The Den. Loyola is now 11-3 overall and 3-1 in league play with an SSAC matchup with Faulkner looming on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Kameron Johnson and Kosta Bjelicic's first field goals kept flipping the lead to Loyola early, 6-5, and back-to-back 3s by Cameron Williams and Reece Seicshnaydre made the score 12-9, Wolf Pack, five and a half minutes into the game. An old-fashioned 3-point play by Leonard Jackson put Loyola up by two possession for the first time, 15-11, and a 3 from Georgios Vassilakis a couple of minutes later made it a six-point lead, 18-12, at the 10-minute mark. Jaylen Peters scored four quick points, and Vassilakis had a steal and a fast-break dunk to extend the lead to 10, 24-14, two minutes later.
Mobile scored eight straight in two minutes after that, but a Seicshnaydre move to the basket ended that run, 26-22. The Rams kept fighting, though, eventually taking a 28-27 lead until Jackson flipped the lead back to the Pack at the free-throw line with 1:44 left until halftime. Jackson put Loyola back on top in the final seconds to send the game into the break with a 31-30 score.
Williams and Johnson both hit 3s in the first few minutes of the second half, 39-33, but Mobile was able to pull back ahead, 42-41, with 13 minutes on the clock. The two teams went scoreless for the next two-plus minutes until Mobile scored a field goal and Vassilakis made a free throw, 44-42, near the halfway point of the half.
The tough stretch continued for the Wolf Pack, as Mobile extended its lead to 51-44 with seven and a half left in the game. Peters, Williams, Jackson and Eain Mowat combined to make five free throws over the next 90 seconds of game time to keep Loyola close, 53-49, then two 3s by Mowat got the deficit down to two, 57-55, with less than four mintues to go.
Jackson made it a two-point game again with a pair from the charity stripe at the 2:35 mark, but Mobile answered again, 61-57, on its next possession. One free throw by Seicshnaydre made it a one possession game with 1:15 left, however, an old-fashioned 3-point play for the Rams followed on their next trip down the floor, 64-58. That was enough separation for the visitors in the end.
Pack Facts
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Leonard Jackson led the team with 13 points, making eight of his nine attempts at the free throw line.
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Kameron Johnson had 11 points, adding seven assists.
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Loyola made eight three-pointers as a team, with Cameron Williams and Eain Mowat making two each. Williams also had eight rebounds.
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