MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The hometown Eagles (26-5, 16-4 SSAC) fought hard and never went away, but could not overcome the high-octane offense and rebounding of top seed Loyola (24-6, 16-4 SSAC) in an 82-73 loss in the SSAC Men's Basketball Championship Game at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Saturday night, resulting in a season sweep in the series for Loyola.
After Loyola opened the scoring,
Daniel Garmendia scooped up a loose ball outside of the arc from
Isaiah Brooks and drained the stepback triple to go up 3-2 before a three by Milan Mejia put the Wolf Pack back ahead. After falling behind 9-3, the teams went back and forth before a
C.J. Hines layup and
Trace Hill free throws tied the game at 13. Hines tied it again on a jumper after a Matthew Mondesir layup before
Derek Murphy laid it in to put the Eagles ahead 17-15 with 7:56 until halftime. Jalen Galloway responded to knot the score before a Garmendia took advantage of an and-one to put his team on top 20-17.
That score would give Faulkner its last lead of the contest. Michael Harden pulled it within one before Galloway converted layups on three consecutive drives to put Loyola ahead for good 25-20, and the conference leaders kept the matchup a two-score contest through halftime. The margin was just two points on five separate occasions along with a 38-38 score just under three minutes into the second half, but the Wolf Pack responded to every Eagle push to steadily put this one away.
Faulkner connected on 40.4% of its shots but only 25% of its threes, compared to 45.8% and 31.8% for Loyola, respectively. The Eagles stayed close down the stretch by making 88% on free throws and a perfect 13-of-13 mark in the second half. The rebounding of the Wolf Pack was what truly proved fatal, as they won the overall battle 41-29 and 11-6 on the offensive end, leading to the matching margin of 11 second-chance points to six for Faulkner.
Hines tallied 24 points to lead his offense. Garmendia scored 19 to go with five boards and four assists. Hill, who was named to the SSAC Champions of Character team this week for the fourth consecutive season, had 18 points and eight boards in his final game at the venue.
Loyola saw five players hit double figures. Harden and Galloway each led the way with 19 points, the former heading the team in assists with four and the latter registering the most rebounds with 11 and blocks with two. Mondesir scored 15, and Mejia and Zach Muller each had 11. Muller also pulled in eight rebounds.
The squads now head back home and await the unveiling of the bracket for the 2023 NAIA Men's Basketball Championship. Both were selected as hosts of the First and Second Rounds on March 7-8, and they will find out which teams are coming to their sites and who their next opponents will be next week.
