A quick glance at the men’s basketball conference standings shows wins and losses, but it doesn’t show the standings of heart and grit. If they took stats on close losses, Loyola would rank high on the list, but for the Wolfpack men, life in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference continues on, and they can only stay optimistic in search of their first victory.
Forward Mario Faranda, finance junior, who leads the team in rebounds with an average of 6.4 rebounds, knows that giving up on the season is not an option.
“It’s been tough, but we’re all friends, and we all come from winning programs in high school. We are upset, but it’s not getting us down,” Faranda said. “We understand we’re young, but that’s no excuse. We can’t lose our focus because of a streak, just keep working hard every game.”
Part of the frustration outside of the record is that the close margin at halftime tends to fall apart in the latter part of the second half.
Six of the seven conference games’ margins at the half were two points or less. Critical turnovers late in the game against Belhaven College Tuesday night led to a 74-68 defeat. Close losses are frustrating, but leading scorer guard Luke Zumo, psychology junior, knows that the first conference victory is very close to becoming reality.
“It’s a little discouraging to be close in so many games, but we know we’re on the edge. We put ourselves in a position to win but we have to learn to make big plays on offense, and big stops on defense,” Zumo said.
Those big plays can be the spark plug that leads Loyola to strong runs in the second half of the conference season.
It also helps that in a conference in which everybody plays each other twice, adjustments can be made to counter what happened the previous game. In addition, anything can happen in the conference tournament, where getting into the conference title game assures a spot in the national tournament. These things are the main reason why guard Torry Beaulieu, history sophomore, knows there is a chance.
“I’m upset but I still think we have a good chance. No team we’ve been up against is that much better than us. We can play with any team,” Beaulieu said.
The road doesn’t get much easier for the Wolfpack, with upcoming games against rival Spring Hill on the road and a home game against present league leader Southern University at New Orleans. That is not going to deter Zumo from getting this team to their level of expectation.
“Its in our heads, it’s a mental thing. We just have to overcome the mental obstacle, and get tough upstairs. That’s where we need to improve,” he said. “The morale is good, we practice hard every day. Nobody is quitting, and we’ll keep practicing to win.”
Harold R. Kuntz III can be reached at [email protected].
