Michael Giorlando men’s basketball head coach, and the team began their first game of the season by crushing the Carver Bible College Cougars 108-57 in front of a crowd of over 200 people.

In the audience on Halloween night, Loyola alumni and former basketball players Luke Zumo and Mario Faranda. Zumo was the team’s leading scorer for the 2007-2008 season while Faranda grabbed the most boards per game, finished third in scoring and led the team in shooting percentage from the field.

“It feels really weird and strange watching the game from crowd,” Faranda said, “but it’s really great to see guys like Josh McGrew (management junior) and Matt McCabe (marketing junior), who didn’t get much playing time last year, improve their skills and become contributors on the court.”

Zumo said, “It’s fun, but at the same time it’s pretty weird. I’m here for support and want to see them do well.”

The game included  the debut of newcomer Ryan Brock, business management sophomore and transfer from the University of New Orleans, the defensive effort of the team and the Wolfpack’s playing this season following the departure of Zumo and Faranda.

Brock showcased his talent for the first time at Loyola scoring a team high 18 points. Speaking of Brock’s play, Giorlando said, “Ryan is explosive; he gets a crease and gets to the goal. He has a great short game and took advantage of what the defense gave him.”

The night’s collective defensive effort stood out according to Giorlando. “We did a nice job of stretching their offense; we contested a lot of shots and finished our defensive possessions. Our defense allowed a lot of transition buckets, which is something we are really trying to emphasize.”

They held Carver Bible College to 57 points the entire game on 26 percent shooting from the field. Led by history junior Torry Beaulieu and general studies business junior Sean Bennett, the ‘Pack forced the Cougars into taking numerous tough shots from around the perimeter which led to 20 turnovers and easy fast break points in the first half.

“At practice Coach (Giorlando) stresses that defense will turn into offense; we have a bunch of guards who can get out, run and play strong defense. Our mindset was to get stops, and get as many lay-ups and fast break points as we can,” business management sophomore Ryan Brock said.

The Wolfpack dominated for an entire 40 minutes, only giving up the lead once, which came off an early turnover that turned into a fast break lay-up and brief 2-0 lead for the Cougars.

The Wolfpack finished the first half scoring 38 more points to bring their lead to 55-27 as the half came to a close.

The second half was no different as Loyola jumped out to yet another huge lead taking a 41 point lead six minutes into the second half. They coasted the rest of the way increasing their lead over Carver Bible College to 58 points before eventually winning the game 108-57, making the season 1-0 so far.

Craig Malveaux can be reached at [email protected].