Box Score
New Orleans, LA-In what was essentially a must win game, the Belhaven men's basketball team secured a much needed win at Loyola University Saturday night 76-73. The victory snapped a four game losing streak and improved the Blazers record to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. Loyola falls to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in the GCAC. Had the Wolfpack won, they would be tied for first place in the league with LSU-Shreveport. The Blazers are currently tied for seventh with Spring Hill College and Southern University of New Orleans.

                                                         

Belhaven led early on using a 6-2 run to open the game and build a four point lead just over 50 seconds into the contest. Detrick Johnson made two baskets and Korey Whiting fired in a field goal to account for the first six Blazer points. However, the advantage was short lived as Loyola put together a mini 5-0 run to go up by one at 7-6 with 17:49 remaining in the first half.

 

The Wolfpack would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the half and would extend the lead to as many as 10 points in the opening 20 minutes of play. Loyola led 36-26 with just over two minutes to go before halftime and at the point the Blazer comeback started to begin. Belhaven scored the final three points of the half to cut the Wolfpack lead to single digits at 36-29 heading into the locker room.

 

At the start of the second half, the Blazers continued to chip away at Loyola's lead. With four minutes gone by in the second half, Krayleon Winston scored to tie the game at 39-39. The Blazers then pulled ahead by seven points 52-45 on another Winston basket with just 11:45 to go in the contest. Two minutes later the Wolfpack reclaimed a one point lead on a jumper by Matt McCabe making the score 55-54.

 

Both teams struggled over the next few minutes to seize control of the game. Belhaven established a three point lead 63-60 with 4:45 and then saw it evaporate a few seconds later as the Wolfpack countered with a 5-0 run to lead 65-63. The Wolfpack moved their advantage to four points with a score of 72-68 with 1:48 remaining in the second half. The Blazers pulled even again by reeling off four unanswered points to deadlock the score at 72-72 thanks to a Whiting free throw with 1:07 to play.

 

Belhaven went on to tally the next four points and hang on for the win despite going 2 for 6 from the charity stripe in the final minute of action. The Wolfpack had one last ditch effort to tie the game when Whiting committed a foul sending Loyola's Robert Mason to the free throw line. He made the first to trim the lead to three and missed the following free throw hoping for an offensive rebound and a last second three point attempt which never materialized. Belhaven went on to earn the victory 76-73.

 

Iman Walcott had a season high 19 points to pace the Blazer offensive attack. Nathaniel Roche' finished the game with 15 points followed by Dax Miller with 13 and Korey Whiting checked in with 11 points. Roche' had a game high eight rebounds to lead the Blazers on the boards. Team wise, the Blazers shot extremely well from the field making 59.3 of their shots. Belhaven has also improved their three point shooting over the last couple of games including tonight where they went 4 for 9 from behind the arc. Belhaven had a slight rebounding edge over the Wolfpack 28-24.

 

Loyola had two players score more than 20 points in Saturday's game. Ryan Brock led the way with 24 and Sean Bennett finished with 21 due in large part to 6 for 9 shooting from the three point land. The Wolfpack made 55.3 percent of their field goal attempts and 60 percent of their three pointers.