Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball kept things rolling on Thursday night with a convincing 77-60 victory against Loyola University of New Orleans in Rugg Arena. The Blazers entered Thursday night's game ranked 20th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll. Rob Wallace turned in his best performance in a Blazer uniform scoring 23 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field to ignite the Belhaven offense.

Loyola's only lead of the game came in the opening minutes of the contest when Torry Beaulieu got the game underway with a three point shot to put the Wolfpack up 3-0. Belhaven (15-2, 5-0 GCAC) countered with the next six points on a pair of field goals by Woodie Howard and a layup by Nathaniel Roche' putting the Blazers on top 6-3 with 16:50 to play in the first half. Belhaven then began to put some distance between themselves and Loyola over the next 11 minutes and eventually built their largest lead of the opening period at 34-19 with just under six minutes to go until halftime.

The Blazers outscored the Wolfpack 28-16 during that stretch and appeared to have built a comfortable lead. However, Loyola (10-6, 2-3 GCAC) would not go quietly as they responded with a 10-0 run to get themselves right back into the game trailing 34-29 with 3:04 to play in the first half. Chris Joseph, Jr. capped the run for Loyola with a pair of free throws and also added a key layup to help bring the Wolfpack to within five. The Blazers then pushed their edge back to double digits at 39-29 with just under two minutes left in the period following a layup by Bobby Grier. Loyola countered by trimming the lead to seven just before the first half buzzer sounded sending the Blazers into the locker room with a 40-33 advantage.

The turning point in the game came in the first four minutes of the second half as Belhaven came out hot and engineered a 10-0 run that extended the lead to 17 points. Wallace got the Blazers going with a layup and then assisted on an A.J. Taylor field goal that capped the run making the score 50-33. Loyola then mustered a counter attack to close the gap to 10 points at 62-52 with 7:38 to play. However, that's all the closest they would get the rest of the night. Belhaven proceeded to put the game away thanks to a 13-3 offensive explosion which resulted in a 75-55 edge with only 2:42 left in the contest. Belhaven's defense held strong the rest of the way in route to the win.

Wallace's 23 points off the bench led all scorers in the game and for the second straight night Belhaven's bench played a major role in the outcome of the contest. Detrick Johnson tossed in a career high 22 points against Mobile as the Blazer bench outscored the Rams 53-28 last Saturday. Thursday's game played out much the same way as the Blazers once again showed their depth by dominating Loyola in bench scoring 42-19. Roche' was one of only two other Belhaven players to reach double digits in scoring by tossing in 13 points. He also grabbed a game high nine rebounds and had three blocked shots. Krayleon Winston chipped in with 10 points while Grier dished out five assists and tallied a game high six steals.

As a team, Belhaven made 44.7 percent of their field goals, drilled 50 percent of their three pointers, and cashed in on 44.4 percent of their attempts at the free throw line. Belhaven controlled the boards with a 54-38 rebounding edge and forced 15 Wolfpack turnovers.

Loyola was led by Sean Bennett with 19 points followed by Cameron Cates who added 11 points off the bench. Darrinton Moncrieffe and Nick Tuszynski pulled down six rebounds each during Thursday night's contest. Loyola was limited to a 32.4 percent shooting night from the field, made only 18.2 percent of their three point attempts, and connected on 66.7 percent of their free throw opportunities.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Southern University at New Orleans for another GCAC matchup. The Blazers head into the game tied for first in the GCAC with Tougaloo after the Bulldogs upended Dillard 75-64 on Thursday evening. Saturday's showdown with the Knight's is slated to get underway at 7:00 PM.