When the buzzer sounded on the Wolfpack’s 81-55 defeat to Spring Hill on Feb. 22, The Den bid farewell to seniors Steven McGovern and James Bunn, both playing their last home game of their collegiate careers.
“They’ve meant discipline, toughness, leadership, and dedication. They’re two different type of players, but we’ll miss them both the same,” coach Michael Giorlando said afterward.
Given that Loyola’s men’s basketball squad finished last in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference with a 2-15 (5-22 overall) record, they’ll play every game they qualify for in GCAC post-season play on the road.
“They come to work everyday and are blue collar guys. They bring their hard hat and their lunch pail and give 110 percent effort,” Giorlando added.
McGovern, a finance senior and native New Orleanian, shot an effective 46 percent from the field in 68 games. The four-year letterman’s two biggest games, however, saw him participating in a 2004-05 upset of then No. 3-in-the-NAIA LSU-Shreveport, and later an upset of No. 23 University of Mobile in the GCAC tournament last year.
“He’s the ultimate team player,” Giorlando said. “Despite his playing time, he’s always ready on the call and that’s a credit to his character.”
McGovern scored Loyola’s last two points of the evening with 18 seconds left in the game and in his playing career at The Den. He dribble-penetrated past a Spring Hill defender and power-stepped to the basketball goal. On the move, McGovern floated and bucketed a cinematic runner.
“It was special for me,” McGovern said of his last basket. “There’s a lot of good memories over the years out on that floor.”
He’d go on to recount how teammate Bunn, accounting senior, ripped down the game-ending rebound and ran off the floor in elation when the Wolfpack stunned the nation and beat LSU-Shreveport by just a basket in 2004-05.
“Looking back on it, my teammates were great and so were the fans, just coming more and more at the end through the tough times. Everyone stayed positive through the tough times, and that’s hard to do, especially when our wins and losses aren’t characteristic of the work we put in,” said McGovern, who spent the semester cancelled because of Hurricane Katrina playing at St. Joe’s in Philadelphia.
Bunn, who scored 1,136 points on 40 percent shooting for his career, spoke frankly about his time at The Den. “It was some kind of a disappointment, to be honest. We had a losing season every year I was here, but you have to look beyond the wins and losses, whatever that moral or life lesson that must sound like.”
His career, he said, conditioned him to become a hard-worker and instilled him with a never give-up attitude.
Bunn, who led Loyola in steals each of his last three seasons, was a part of both the LSU-Shreveport and Mobile upsetting team, but the latter game proved to be the more enduring memory. “It was a special time in my career,” he said.
He scored four points against the Badgers on a pair of field goals.
“We have young guys like Matt McCabe, Luke Zumo, Torry Beaulieu and Sean Bennett who we have to develop in the offseason. They are all solid perimeter players who will have to fill the void Bunn will leave,” Giorlando said.
ZUMO PLAYS WELL, BUT WOLFPACK CAN’T OVERCOME MONSTER SPRING HILL RUN
Guard Luke Zumo, the psychology junior who hit a game-winning three-pointer as time expired earlier this week against Belhaven, scored 19 points. Every field goal he scored came from a three-point shot and he hit each of his seven attempts from the free throw line.
Despite his play, Spring Hill orchestrated a 23-10 run at the start of the second half to put Loyola away.
Loyola fell behind early 4-0 and never held a lead.
James Bunn, accounting senior, drives on an Xavier guard on Feb. 10 earlier this season. Bunn scored 1,136 points up to his final home game as a member of Wolfpack basketball, but sees his career as a “disappointment” nonetheless. (Tyler Kaufman)
