• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Loyola University New Orleans players celebrate winning their first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Championship in 77 years at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., March 22, 2022. The Loyola Wolf Pack defeated the Talladega Tornadoes 71-56. (CNS photo/ Matthew Hicks, MSH Visual via Loyola University New Orleans)

Loyola New Orleans wins NAIA title for first national basketball championship in 77 years

March 25, 2022
By Catholic News Service
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Sports, World News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CNS) — Seventy-seven years ago, inside the same building, Loyola University New Orleans won its first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s basketball national championship.

Inside Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City the night of March 22, the Jesuit-run Loyola Wolf Pack ended that drought by winning the championship, the first since the 1944-45 season.

Top-seeded Loyola beat No. 2-seed Talladega (Alabama) College, 71-56. It was the fourth meeting between the Southern States Athletic Conference rivals, and Loyola won all four matchups.

The Wolf Pack turned in a 37-1 overall record this season, they won the Southern States Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and they ran through the NAIA tournament with six wins to cap off a dominant season.

Despite Loyola’s impressive record, the team didn’t have an easy go of it during the season, according to a Loyola news release. It all started when Hurricane Ida ripped off a section of the University Sports Complex’s roof and damaged the team’s home court.

The team spent the preseason practicing in Dallas before playing all of its early season home games at Tulane’s Devlin Fieldhouse until a temporary floor was put in place to accommodate the rest of the regular season.

On top of that, the program dealt with COVID-19 postponements, a tornado scare while on the road at Stillman College and symptoms similar to food poisoning while in Kansas City.

None of that could stop the Pack.

“I went into every single game this year believing that I had the best group on the floor, and that they weren’t going to let us lose,” Loyola coach Stacy Hollowell told The Associated Press. “You can’t quantify a kid’s passion, and these kids have passion.”

In Kansas City, Loyola didn’t have its best finish to the first half but still went into the locker room with a 36-21 lead.

Four minutes into the second half, the Wolf Pack went ahead 44-25. The Tornadoes wouldn’t go down easy, though. They used an 11-0 run in three-plus minutes to cut the Loyola lead down to 44-36 with 13 minutes to play.

With six minutes left in the game, Loyola led 60-47.

From there, Talladega never could cut the deficit to less than 11, and by the 2-minute mark with Loyola leading by 17, everyone in the gym knew which team would be crowned champion.

The NAIA’s 252 member institutions are small colleges and universities in North America.

Read More Sports

Movie Review: ‘Champions’

Mount St. Joseph defends BCL Tournament title with win over St. Maria Goretti

NDMU basketball team dances into NCAA DIII tournament

5 Things to know about Baltimore Catholic League basketball tournament

Heart to Beat initiative takes proactive approach to sports safety

Life and death: AEDs save lives on sports fields

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Catholic News Service

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • ‘God showed up in a very powerful, powerful way’: Archdiocese of Hartford investigating possible eucharistic miracle
  • A miracle at a Sunday Mass in Connecticut
  • Fullerton Passion Walk a ‘deeply moving’ experience
  • Men urged to be on fire for faith at Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Maryland conference
  • Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to host world premiere of Passion setting

| Latest Local News |

Catholic group pushing for inclusive housing in city

Sulpician Father Louis Reitz dies at 93

Sister Regina Marie de l’Eucharistie Loftus dies at 86

| Latest World News |

As pope leaves hospital, he comforts couple, jokes with reporters

Hate crimes targeting religions on rise in Canada; crimes against Catholics increase 260 percent

Assisted suicide, euthanasia an ‘incredibly slippery slope’ in the West, says CUA panel

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • As pope leaves hospital, he comforts couple, jokes with reporters
  • Hate crimes targeting religions on rise in Canada; crimes against Catholics increase 260 percent
  • Assisted suicide, euthanasia an ‘incredibly slippery slope’ in the West, says CUA panel
  • Arrests made for ‘unruly conduct’ at Virginia university that disrupted pro-life meeting, injured student leader
  • Doctors say pope can be discharged from hospital
  • Pope visits pediatric oncology ward, baptizes infant
  • Movie Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’
  • Catholic group pushing for inclusive housing in city
  • Additional charges filed in Vatican finance trial

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED