CLEVELAND – Joe McCray sank a 19-foot jump shot with 1.9 seconds remaining to cap a come-from-behind win as the Delta State Statesmen edged Loyola 80-78 Saturday at Sillers Coliseum.
The Statesmen overcame a 17-point second half deficit as the Statesmen improved to 6-3.
McCray (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Univ. of Nebraska) scored 20 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds to lead the Statesmen. Eric Spencer (Marion, Ark./Arkansas-Fort Smith) scored a team-high 21 points.
Sean Bennett scored a game-high 28 points to lead Loyola (6-3), an NAIA program that competes in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. Ryan Brock, the NAIA's second-leading scorer, added 23 points.
The Statesmen trailed by 17 points at two different junctures in the second half. A made jumper and free throw by Torry Beaulieu gave the Wolfpack a 55-38 lead with 16:58 remaining in the game.
Spencer scored the game's next three points in a span of a 1:23 to cut Loyola's lead to 55-41, but a layup by Brock put the Wolfpack back ahead by 16 with 15:18 to play.
The Wolfpack were clinging to the same margin with 13:30 remaining in the second half when the Statesmen began chipping away at the deficit. Delta State embarked on a 14-0 run over the next three and half minutes and pulled to within two points at 59-57 when Dmitry Pirshin (Moscow, Russia/Gulf Coast CC) sank a pair of free throws with 10:03 remaining.
Pirshin scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in the game.
The Statesmen took their first lead of the second half when Roderick Ollie (Indianola, Miss./UAB) sank a jump shot with 8:05 remaining to put Delta State ahead 64-63.
Momentum temporarily swung back in Loyola's favor as the Wolfpack scored the next nine points to take a 72-64 lead 5:42 remaining.
But the Statesmen erased their visitors' lead just as quickly as the Wolfpack built it, as Eric Spencer capped an 8-0 run with five unanswered points to help Delta State tie the game at 72 with 3:57 remaining.
From there, the two teams would stay even until McCray's game-winning shot with two seconds remaining.
Marqueys Brown (Memphis, Tenn./Crichton College) scored 12 points and electrified the home crowd with four slam dunks in the first half off feeds from Chad Akins (Madison, Miss./Madison Central HS)
The second-half comeback proved to be a stark contrast from the first half, when the Wolfpack roared to a 47-31 lead. Delta State opened the game with a 7-3 lead, but it was all Loyola from that point onward. A 13-2 run gave the Wolfpack a 16-9 lead, and then they proceeded to take control of the game for the rest of the first half.
The Wolfpack shot 53 percent (17-of-32) from the floor in the first half, with Bennett and Brock doing most of the damage. Bennett scored 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting (including 4-of-6 on 3-point shots), while Brock scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
The Statesmen shot 37 percent (14-of-38) from the floor in the first half. After a 51-percent (15-of-29) performance in the second half, they finished the game by shooting 29-of-67 (43 percent).
The Statesmen have two more games remaining before the Christmas holidays as they will take part in the University of Tampa Classic on Monday and Tuesday. Delta State faces Eckerd College at 5:30 p.m. EST on Monday, and will then face the Tampa Spartans Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. EST.
