Behind Luke Zumo’s bombs-away scoring and a 16-15 lead with 10 minutes to go in the first half, the Loyola Wolfpack dealt the NCAA’s Southern Miss Golden Eagles and their Hattiesburg, Miss., home crowd a scare.
But the Golden Eagles, with a slim 32-29 advantage in tow to start the second half, upped gears and outscored Loyola 55-38 in the closing period to win 87-67, handing Loyola its third loss in as many games and their second loss against an NCAA Division I opponent in the season’s early going.
“From an exhibition standpoint, the purpose was to compete against Division I talent and we did so for about thirty minutes. In the closing moments, though, for some reason, we couldn’t control the boards like we did in the first half and that was the difference,” coach Michael Giorlando said.
Zumo, psychology junior, paced the game’s scoring, connecting on 7-of-15 field goals and 5-of-8 three-point balls for a game-high 21 points. The defiant guard also led the Wolfpack in rebounds by recording five.
However, on a night when his perimeter sidekick shot the building’s lights out and attacked the boards like a lion, finance junior forward Mario Faranda faced a Southern Miss defense that effectively kept the post prowess he brandished in the first two games against the University of New Orleans and Texas College in check.
He scored just 8 points after slightly hurting his knee on the first play of the game.
Torry Beaulieu, a history sophomore guard that tallied 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, was the only other Loyola player to join Zumo in the double-figure club.
Giorlando said that his starting backcourt of Beaulieu, Zumo and accounting senior James Bunn, who last tied the score at 29 with a jump shot at the 2:01 mark of the first half, played “exceptionally, keeping the game right where we wanted it.”
But, aside from outrebounding Loyola 44-22, Southern Miss fielded six scorers in double figures.
Demar Dotson spearheaded the Golden Eagles with 14 points and eight rebounds and Andre Stephens recorded 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in support.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t win,” Giorlando, who saw his team erupt onto the Hattiesburg floor and speed ahead to a 6-0 lead in the game’s opening stages, said. “It was a good learning experience we can use for Thursday’s game at home against Wiley.”
This was Loyola’s second of six road stands against NCAA Division I opponents. They will still face Tulane University, University of Louisiana-Monroe, Troy University and the University of Loyola-Chicago before the Christmas holidays.
