Wolf Pack earns win No. 1 of Lindsey era

NEW ORLEANS – First-year Loyola Wolf Pack head coach Trey Lindsey earned win No. 1 on Thursday in The Den, defeating Texas A&M University-San Antonio, 94-61, in both teams' season-openers. The Wolf Pack will stay in New Orleans next week, when it visits crosstown rival Dillard on Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m.
 

Loyola dominated the opening minutes of Thursday's matchup. Kosta Bjelicic scored the first three baskets for the Pack before assisting Zachary Lee on another score, 8-0. After Cameron Williams sank a jumper, Kameron Johnson drained Loyola's first triple, 13-0. After Bjelicic scored once again, Reece Seicshnaydre got on the board, 17-0, four minutes into the game.
 

Loyola's advantage extended with a triple by Jarvis Brown, 20-2. Sophomore Georgios Vassilakis scored his first bucket as a member of the Wolf Pack with a trey, 23-4. Leonard Jackson hit a triple before Bjelicic reached 10 points for the half, 28-10. Lee drained a 3-pointer of his own on an assist from Johnson, 31-10. From there, the Maroon and Gold kept its commanding lead heading into the second half, 37-20.
 

Johnson started Loyola's second half with a basket, then added a steal before laying another in on the fast break, 41-20. Bjelicic added another bucket, then Seicshnaydre sunk a trey, 46-22. Johnson went on a scoring run for the Pack, starting with a jumper, then making another triple, 51-24. After a Johnson steal, the junior completed a three-point play, totaling 12 second-half points in less than six minutes of play, 54-24.
 

With 12 minutes left in the game, Jarvis Brown made a jumper, then finished the old-fashioned three-point play with a make at the charity stripe, 57-26. Brown drained a triple, assisted by Apostolos Paziotopoulos, 60-26. Jaylen Peters made two at the free throw line, before Vassilakis made a triple, 65-30. Peters made another jumper, then Jackson followed that with another triple, 70-30. After Vassilakis sank another trey, 75-41, the Wolf Pack cruised to the season-opening win. Evan Savoy, Dominic Brown, Schuyler Pimentel and Brody Adams all saw action late in the game and gave Loyola 13 scorers. 
 

Pack Facts

• Kameron Johnson filled up the box score with game highs in points (15), assists (5), and steals (5) while also grabbing two rebounds and blocking a shot in the post. 

• Johnson reached the 200 career assist mark in the game and now has 201 assists in his Wolf Pack career. 

• Kosta Bjelicic dominated the first half with 11 points, finishing with 13 total points and six boards in 18 minutes. Zachary Lee also had a strong first half, pouring in eight points in the opening 20 minutes to go along with six rebounds. 

• Georgios Vassilakis had a stellar Wolf Pack debut, posting 13 points with a game-high eight rebounds, plus an assist and a block. He shot 3-for-4 from three-point range and 5-of-6 overall. 

• Leonard Jackson made half of his six attempts, all from distance, to finish with nine points. Jarvis Brown also put up nine points, knocking down a pair of threes. 

• Overall, Loyola connected on 14 three-pointers on the night (38.9%). That's the most triples for the team since the 2023-24 season. 

• Evan Savoy capped off the three-point party with two treys in the game's final minutes for a career-high six points. 

Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >> https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also 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.