Looking to blow off some steam after a stressful finals week, the Loyola Wolfpack collected a convincing 78-63 win over Philander Smith in their last contest at The Den before the Christmas break.
Finance junior center Mario Faranda, who said he pulled three all-nighters during finals week prior to the game, found it hard to concentrate on finals.
“Especially yesterday during my physics final, not only was it really hard, but I think I did well. So I wanted to come out and just play,” he said.
Faranda did just that, amassing 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting and a team-high nine rebounds. As the first half closed, he electrified the sideline stands with a statement dunk – after he was fed in the post, he freed himself from his defender with a pump-fake, soared down the baseline and threw down a two-hand dunk.
Backcourt sidekick Luke Zumo, on top of finals, dealt with a sickness that kept him out of any full speed practices.
“I was just looking to steal the ball, get some easy baskets from them, and doing that got me into the flow of the game,” the psychology junior said. “We had some penned up energy after finals, and we wanted to finish strong before the break.”
Zumo made good on his wishes, torching Philander Smith for 18 points on five-of-10 shooting. He drove the lane efficiently the entire game, earning 10 trips to the line and converting six of them.
A TOTAL TEAM EFFORT
Coach Michael Giorlando, in the spirit of the Christmas season, felt that his team was in a giving mood. “The team was very unselfish tonight,” he said about the way the ‘Pack distributed the scoring.
Five players scored in double digits: Zumo (18), Faranda (17), history sophomore Torry Beaulieu (15 points on three-of-seven shooting, eight-of-eight free throws), general business junior Carter Wurts (11 points on four-of-five shooting, three-of-three free throws) and accounting senior James Bunn (10 points on two-of-six shooting, six-of-six free throws).
“We got to the foul line a lot and shot well from it, and that was very important,” Giorlando said of his team’s 34-of-45 free throws attempted (they shot as many free throws as field goals).
The Wolfpack also forced Philander Smith’s scorers into foul trouble. Rashad Aleem (led Philander Smith with 12 points), their second-leading scorer for the season, fouled out after just 23 minutes of play.
Three-point threats Willie and Wesley Henry also collected four fouls with a ways to go in the contest: they each had two three-pointers. Willie could only play 16 minutes; Wesley 24.”When you get their offensive power on the bench, it puts a lot of pressure on their non-scorers to score. That’s part of our strategy – try to drive it to the players in trouble,” Giorlando said.
It limited the way Philander Smith could attack in the post and how closely they could defend the ‘Pack’s ball-handlers, allowing open mid- and long-range looks for Giorlando’s perimeter shooters.
After Beaulieu’s buzzer beating three-pointer in the first half, the Wolfpack commanded a 40-30 lead.
Philander Smith battled to within two, 59-57, after a run in which Loyola split its trips to the line or missed their one-and-ones.
Wurts, on the ensuing possession, kept Philander Smith at bay by collecting an offensive rebound and finishing the basket off the glass.
From there, Loyola managed to extend the 70-58 with 2:19 to go after Zumo buried a three off a Bunn kick-out.
Philander Smith never again threatened as the clock wound down on the 78-63 final score.
Ramon Vargas can be reached at [email protected].
