Neither team enjoyed a lead greater than six points in the game.  Late in the second half, Zumo tied the game for the sixth and last time with a three pointer with 4:15 to play.  Olumide Olafioye answered with one of his four three pointers in the contest to give Xavier a 58-55 advantage.

Two possessions later, Zumo pulled the ‘Pack to within one point, hitting a pair of free throws.  Shaun Dumas answered on the other end to bring the margin back up to three points, 60-57 with 2:17 to play. 

On Loyola’s next possession, Alfred Williams fouled Torry Beaulieu and the Wolfpack point guard converted one of two from the  stripe to pull Loyola to two points with 1:45 to play.  The Gold Rush later extended the lead to five points 64-59 on a jumper by Dumas with 15 seconds to play.

Zumo was fouled seven seconds later and knocked down both free throws to make it a one possession game.  Zumo immediately fouled Olumide Olafioye on the inbounds and the Gold Rush sophomore sealed the game converting the free throws to advance Xavier to the GCAC semi finals 66-61.

Zumo, a Catholic High of Baton Rouge grad, had a team high 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting from the field and 4 of 10 from behind the arc.  He completes his career with 1,573 points good for third on the Loyola all time scoring list.  He finished behind only Ty Marioneaux (1,628) and Brian Lumar (1,832).  He was also named to the All-GCAC team earlier in the week.

Torry Beaulieu and Sean Bennett rounded out the leaders for the Wolfpack with 13 and 12 points respectively.  Mario Faranda had four points and six rebounds in the game.  He finished his career with 790 points and 405 rebounds.  Senior Carter “Bear” Wurts ended his career with 462 points and 255 rebounds.

For Xavier (23-8), Olafioye also had 19 points.  He came off the bench and shot 6 of 10 from the field and hit 4 of 6 in three point attempts.  Shaun Dumas finished with 16 points and Alfred Williams grabbed a game high 15 rebounds.

The first half saw four ties with neither team enjoying a lead larger than five points.  Loyola secured their largest advantage of the game as Sean Bennett hit a jumper to make the score 25-20 with 4:54 remaining in the period. 

The Gold Rush responded with 10 unanswered points beginning with Dannie Woods’s basket off a feed from Shaun Dumas at 4:46. 

Olumide Olafioye tied the game for the fourth time 25-25 with a three pointer with 4:02 to play in the half.  The run continued three minutes later with Kelechi Okoroha converting a pair of free throws with 1:37 to play in the half. 

Luke Zumo broke the Xavier run with one of his three 3-pointers in the half with 33 seconds remaining to send the teams to the locker room with the Gold Rush leading 30-28.

Loyola (16-13) achieved their first winning season since the 1994-95 campaign and set “new era” records with wins in a season (16) and GCAC victories (9).  The last time a Loyola team won more than 16 games in a season was 1947-48 when Loyola hall of fame coach Jack Orsley’s Wolfpack went 21-9.

Comments from Loyola head coach Dr. Michael Giorlando: “It was a disappointing loss and a hard fought game.  Give Xavier credit, they made plays when they needed to.  We didn’t convert some free throws when we had the opportunity.  We’re disappointed that we couldn’t advance and keep playing.  I’m very proud of our team and their effort this year.  I want to thank our seniors, Bear, Mario, and Luke.  They have brought this program a long way and I’m so grateful for all their hard work over the past four years.  Obviously Luke had a decorated career and is a special young man who will be missed by our program and our university as will Mario and Bear.” 

Helpful links:
http://wolfpack.loyno.edu
http://wolfpack.loyno.edu/giving
http://gcaconf.com
http://naia.org
http://loyolamaroon.com
http://blog.nola.com/wolfpack/

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