It wasn’t a Tobacco Road clash between perennial powers Duke and North Carolina; no sure shot future NBA lottery pick laced up on either side, and not even a tournament bid was on the line.
Heck, it wasn’t even a conference game — just a mid-level Conference USA squad against a tiny, Jesuit NAIA school in a budding rivalry game played for the sixth year in a row.
All that was at stake: an uptown New Orleans city block on Freret Street in between Broadway Avenue and Calhoun Street and bragging rights at The Boot.
But in the post-Katrina landscape of New Orleans, which has the city’s NBA club in Oklahoma City, the Tulane Green Wave and Loyola Wolfpack’s uptown showdown took on a rather unique meaning: It was the biggest game in town.
And though Tulane’s NCAA talent vastly outmatched Loyola’s scrappy hustle by a final tally of 87-41, both New Orleans basketball and the confrontational student section as a whole came out as winners.
The ‘Pack hasn’t come away a winner since they split a 1971-72 series with the Wave. Since they began playing annually in 2000, the closest Loyola has come to snagging one from the Wave was two seasons ago — a 74-58 loss.
Tulane came into the contest routing Marshall 61-36 in a Conference USA game. In its arsenal, it had stud center Quincy Davis, who recorded his 500th career rebound against Marshall and was 32 points away from scoring his 1,000th point for the Green Wave.
But the ‘Pack’s got “Hollywood Jim” Olivard in its ranks and bombs-away guards Luke Zumo, Torry Beaulieu, and James Bunn And, if Mario Faranda’s 14 point effort in a 74-62 loss to Spring Hill the night before was any indication, they had help scoring down low.
” I’ve come to this game four times I mean, I hope you guys win one, but if Tulane loses, we’d be pretty embarrassed. We’d lose a lot of bragging rights on Freret [Street],” said Tulane sociology senior Rashan Canero before tip-off. “The game’s got a great meaning. It’s two of New Orleans’ major universities coming together in one arena for good entertainment.”
“It would be insane,” Loyola freshman Melissa Sammy, biology major, said at the prospect of an upset. “We’d have a holiday.”
The Game
Once the game got underway, Tulane’s Chris Moore welcomed the ‘Pack to Fogelman by draining his first three 3-point attempts. The Wave raced to a 9-2 lead.
Moore finished with 18 points off four 3-pointers.
That lead soon extended to a 17-6 margin, the Green Wave student section in boisterous glee as it seemed the ‘Pack was out from the get-go. Coach Dave Dickerson put in his reserves.
But recovering from an air-ball miss, Loyola guard James Bunn, management senior, shut up the Wave section’s taunts by connecting on a triple in the middle of a storm of 3-pointers that pulled Loyola back to a 19-14 deficit.
“It was good we made a run,” Zumo said. “But hitting three’s isn’t always the answer. I think we relied a little too much on that (later in the game).”
Dickerson had to put his starters back in, but Loyola staved off Tulane’s vast depth enough to have a chance in the second half with a scrappy defensive effort and some cheeky offensive plays.
The ‘Pack forced 18 turnovers on the night and a handful of dribbling violation calls as the guards clamped down on Ryan Williams and Andrew Garcia, the Wave guards.
Zumo, in a memorable play in the first half, pump-faked a shot that Moore bit on. He sidestepped his vulnerable mark, stepped up to the foul line, and drained a jumper in traffic.
But Tulane’s perimeter adjusted to clamp down on Loyola’s 3-point assault, and Loyola resorted to scoring in the paint to end the half.
Faranda scored twice off the glass. Beaulieu topped off a three-straight scoring possession stretch with a finger roll to find the ‘Pack down a manageable 40-26 margin.
Tulane’s lauded duo of Gomez and Davis was held to a total of 12 points.
To start the second half, however, the ‘Pack unraveled, and Quincy Davis came to play. He welcomed the second period with a pair of dunks, one off a Gomez miss in which he just overpowered the well-positioned ‘Pack rebounders.
Davis finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks in 24 minutes.
Loyola, on the other hand, turned the ball over its first five possessions and didn’t score in its first seven possessions, until Faranda made a free throw attempt.
Faranda led the ‘Pack in scoring with 14 points. He tallied seven rebounds in 26 minutes of play.
The defensive depth of Tulane’s bench and its physical advantage swallowed anything the ‘Pack threw at them, allowing three field goals in the second half.
“I think it just comes down to poise and their guys handling the pressure better,” Giorlando said. “They forced us to do things that are uncharacteristic for us. Being indecisive, rushing shots.”
Beaulieu treated the ‘Pack’s followers to a gutsy play: Tulane forward Donnie Stith brought down an uncontested rebound. Thinking he was alone, he exposed the ball on a dribble; Beaulieu went around him, dispossessed the forward and tucked it into the goal.
He finished with 12 points on a 3-for-15 night of shooting.
The ‘Pack’s gunslinger, Zumo, was limited to six points on 2-of-7 shooting.
“Give them credit,” said Giorlando. “They had a lot to do with us missing shots. The most important thing for us to do is to move on and get some conference wins under our belt.”
Ramon Vargas can be reached at [email protected].
