NEW ORLEANS – Playing just its second conference contest of the new year, the No. 7 Martin Methodist Men's Basketball team grinded out a 75-63 win against a scrappy Loyola (La.) University club Friday night.
In just the third all-time meeting between the two clubs, the RedHawks (14-1, 5-0 SSAC) went back and forth against a solid Loyola squad that had lost just one other contest at home all season.
After falling behind by as many as four points early in the first half, the RedHawks began to seize control of the contest late in the period and pulled ahead with a 34-33 halftime advantage.
The second half would begin as another back-and-forth affair, before the RedHawks finally began to pull away – leading by as many as 13 with 14:38 remaining in the contest. And while the contest featured 10 lead changes and three ties, but the RedHawks would never relinquish their edge en route to their fifth straight victory.
Monte Burney paced a balanced RedHawk scoring effort with 17 points as five players finished in double-figures. Reginald Porter produced a strong second half for the RedHawks, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half. Darius Woods, who celebrated his 23rd birthday Friday, finished with 14 points alongside backcourt mate Josh Watson. Ryan Donald rounded out the double-digit efforts with 11 points – 7 of which came from the free throw line.
McCall Tomeny scored a game-best 27 points on a 10-of-17 shooting night to lead the Wolf Pack (8-5, 2-4).
The RedHawks forced 25 Wolf Pack turnovers, however, which led directly to 29 points. The 25 turnovers forced marked the second-best this season (27 – Oakwood, Nov. 17) for the RedHawks and best against an NAIA foe.
Watson, Burney and Woods were the defensive standouts for the RedHawks, recording four steals apiece. Watson also added seven rebounds and two blocks to go along with a team-best five assists in the all-around effort.
"Give a lot of credit to Loyola," RedHawks head coach Scott Combs said. "They are an extremely tough team to beat. Especially at their place. Some of our shots were not falling tonight so we needed to rely on our defense. We had another balanced scoring night, but it was our defense that helped us win this game."
The win kept the RedHawks record perfect in Southern States Athletic Conference play, the lone remaining unbeaten team in conference play. The 14 wins put the RedHawks among the Top 10 in victories this season and their lone loss means the RedHawks are just one of eight remaining teams that are either unbeaten or have suffered just one blemish on the year.
The RedHawks will look to pick up another conference victory Saturday afternoon when they travel to the University of Mobile (Ala.). Tipoff in Saturday's showdown is set for 3 p.m. at the Pharr Gymnasium.
