PANAMA CITY, Fla. – In a matchup of two teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25, the Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team made a statement on Monday in their Battle at the Beach opener against Mid-America Christian. The Wolf Pack won their 27th straight game after an 80-54 defeat of MACU, beginning the season 6-0 as well. 
 

The Wolf Pack will now take on Missouri Baptist on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Panama City, Florida. 
 

The story of the first half was Loyola's hot shooting and Jalen Galloway got things going with a 3-pointer in the first 10 seconds of the game. In fact, he'd go on to score 12 of Loyola's first 16 points, which allowed the Pack to take a 16-13 lead after the first six minutes of game action. The three-time Southern States Athletic Conference Player of the Week this season hit two 3s during that opening stretch, and Leonard Jackson added one as well to help build early momentum. 
 

The 3s continued to fall for Loyola, as Milan Mejia and Blake Burkey each made one from beyond the arc, then Mejia added another one and Andrew Stagni got in on the action with two made 3-pointers to make it a 33-17 advantage with five-plus minutes until halftime. Galloway and Mejia weren't finished either, each making one more 3 to finish the first half with 17 and nine points, respectively. 
 

When the first half was all said and done, Loyola had 10 made 3s (55.6 percent) to take a 43-25 lead into the break. 
 

Michael Harden scored the first four points for Loyola in the second half, maintaining a 20-point lead, 47-27, then Galloway and Jackson pushed that advantage to 24, 51-27, less than four minutes into the period. Matthew Mondesir earned his first points from the charity stripe a couple of minutes later, and Zachary Lee got on the board as well at the 12-minute mark, 58-35, as 12 different Wolf Pack players ended the game with points. 
 

Stagni's third 3-pointer of the game gave Loyola its largest lead of 31, 69-38, with more than seven minutes left, as MACU was never a threat in the second half. 
 

Pack Facts

• SSAC Player of the Week Jalen Galloway led all scorers once again with 19 points in just 20 minutes, going 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from the three-point line. 

• Loyola won the three-point battle in the game, finishing 13-of-31 (41.9%) on attempts behind the arc. The Wolf Pack made nine more threes than MACU, which went 4-for-25. 

• Milan Mejia, Galloway, and Andrew Stagni each hit three shots from long range on Monday. 

• Three different players have hit at least 10 threes this season, Mejia (18-41, 44%), Leonard Jackson (11-15, 73%), and Galloway (11-21, 44%). 

• Loyola's three-point percentage, just above 41 percent, ranks in the top 20 in the NAIA this season. 

• Freshman Zach Lee led the team in rebounding with six boards. He had just four rebounds in his three previous games combined. 

• The Wolf Pack combined for 13 steals, with Stagni leading the team at three takeaways. It was the team's highest steals total of the season, as 10 different players recorded a steal. 

• MACU's 54 points were the lowest allowed for a Wolf Pack opponent this season. Loyola held them to just under 34 percent shooting from the field. 

You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.