On Tuesday night, Nov. 4, the Loyola Wolf Pack men’s basketball team pulled off a thrilling 110-102 win over their cross-town rival, the Xavier Gold Rush, at The Den — but it took four overtimes to get there.
Loyola started strong with a quick 12-3 lead thanks to a three-pointer from Zachary Lee and solid defense that kept Xavier from scoring easily. But Xavier answered with a big scoring run of their own, jumping ahead by double digits. Loyola fought back before halftime, cutting the lead to just three points at 30-27.
The game stayed close in the second half, with both teams trading leads several times. Loyola’s key players — redshirt junior Lee, freshman forward Georgios Vassilakis, and junior guard Kameron Johnson — helped keep the team in the fight. When the score was tied 69-69 at the end of regulation, the game went into overtime.
What followed was a marathon of back-and-forth scoring through four extra periods. In the final overtime, Johnson scored first, then redshirt senior guard Cameron Williams hit a clutch three-pointer and made a key defensive stop to help Loyola finally secure the win.
Johnson finished with an incredible stat line: a career-high 33 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds, five steals, and a block — his first college double-double. Lee added 20 points of his own. Loyola’s 110 total points were the team’s highest since March 2022.
After the dramatic win, the Wolf Pack will hit the road for five away games before returning home on Nov. 25 to face the Dillard Bleu Devils.
