With a chance to improve its seeding in the upcoming conference tournament, the men’s basketball team fell short in its last four games.
The Wolfpack hosted Belhaven College on Feb. 19 but fell in the final minutes, 67-64. Belhaven made five of its six three-point attempts while Loyola made nine of 22 field-goal attempts in the first half. The Blazers led 39-32 at the half.
The Wolfpack relied on two players, English writing senior Jonathan Hernandez (six points) and finance junior Daniel Schmidt (14), for 20 of its first-half points.
Loyola was better in almost all aspects in the second half but trailed 67-58 with 1:21 left in the game.
Hernandez hit consecutive three-pointers to bring the Wolfpack to within three points, the margin they would face with the ball and 20 seconds to go.
The ‘Pack was unable to set up a good scoring chance in the final seconds, and economics senior Mike Senna drew iron on what would have been the game-tying shot.
Schmidt scored 27 and Hernandez 22 for the game. Belhaven’s Kirt Arceneaux, with 18 points, was the only Blazer who came close.
Management junior Zach Tyson, who grabbed the rebound to give the Wolfpack the chance to win, led the team with seven boards.
Belhaven was the last place team in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.
“I feel good about our preparation,” coach Jerry Hernandez said, “but somebody you don’t expect always hurts us.”
Two days later, the ‘Pack went on the road to Dillard, one of the hottest teams in the conference.
The Blue Devils scored 50 points in the first half en route to an 89-61 win.
Schmidt led Loyola with 16 points, and Hernandez added 15.
Dillard outrebounded the Wolfpack 46-25 while Schmidt and Senna each had five of those rebounds.
“[Dillard is] very good: there’s no explanation about that,” coach Hernandez said. “They did what they needed to do.”
The ‘Pack had a good chance to pick up a victory at LSU-Shreveport, whom they had beaten in the first round, last Thursday but could not overcome the hostile environment or the six-point halftime deficit.
Loyola shot 48 percent in the first half to LSU-S’s 43 percent, but the Pilots made more free throws and took ten more shots than the Wolfpack.
The ‘Pack was able to stay in the game with three-pointers, shooting 41 percent overall from beyond the arc to The Pilots’ 14 percent.
Business sophomore James Bunn, who made six three-point baskets, led all scorers with 27 points. Schmidt added 11 points.
“With 24 seconds left, we had the ball, down three points,” Hernandez said. “I think we put ourselves in a pretty good spot.”
“We gave the ball to James Bunn, and it wasn’t the best of looks. They defended well.”
Loyola wrapped up its GCAC schedule when it hosted Tougaloo in Saturday’s Hall of Fame Game.
After Hernandez opened the game with a three-pointer, the Bulldogs scored nine straight points.
Marketing sophomore James Olivard tied the game at 15 with a three-point play with 11:53 left in the half.
Olivard scored 14 points in eight minutes, and the ‘Pack led by as much as five points.
But after Olivard’s basket with 4:52 to go in the first half, Loyola did not score again until 14:33 remained in the game, well over a 10-minute dry spell.
Consecutive three-pointers by Schmidt narrowed the gap to 45-35 with 11:55 to go, but the Wolfpack did not get closer until 46 seconds remained in the game.
Olivard, who scored 21 points in the game, made the ‘Pack’s final basket with five seconds left making the final score, 68-61. Olivard made eight of 11 shots and also grabbed eight rebounds.
Neither Olivard nor Schmidt, who added 15 points, started for Loyola.
“To lose (to LSU-S) and the long trip home took something out of our guys, and it just didn’t happen for us (against Tougaloo),” Hernandez said. “Hopefully we can make some noise in this (the GCAC) tournament.”
On Thursday the ‘Pack plays Spring Hill, whom they have beaten twice this year, in the play-in game of the GCAC tournament for the chance to play SUNO in the quarterfinals.
