City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Eugene Rapay (@erapay5)
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At long last, Drexel finally picked up its first win of the season, riding a season-best performance from the team’s only scholarship senior en route to a 66-53 road win at La Salle on Saturday afternoon.

At First…
Both teams struggled to get a rhythm offensively in the first half, as the Dragons and Explorers combined for 19 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. A pair of Tavon Allen 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions spurred a 10-0 run by Drexel that made it a 28-22 game, and the Dragons would lead by six at the half, 37-31.

Turning Point…
La Salle scored 10 of the first 14 points to tie it up at 41 with 15:27 remaining, the first tie of the entire game after the teams traded small leads early on. But that would be the last momentum the Explorers would own.

Over an eight-minute span that began with 12:54 remaining and lasted all the way until there were fewer than five minutes remaining, Drexel’s defense clamped down, holding La Salle without a field goal. With the help of five Explorer turnovers during that span, the Dragons went on a game-clinching 13-2 run that opened up a 60-47 lead they would ride to the win.

Standout Stars...
When Tavon Allen is smart with his shot selection, as he was on Saturday afternoon, the fifth-year senior wing can be very dangerous. Going up against the second-leading scorer in the country in La Salle’s Jordan Price (27.0 ppg), Allen showed he’s also capable of piling up the points, going for a season-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts and all eight of his foul shots.

Price, though he led the Explorers with 19 points, wasn’t the dangerous scorer he’d been over La Salle’s first six games of the season. The redshirt junior guard was just 5-of-14 from the floor and 1-of-5 from 3-point range, with five turnovers.

Noteworthy Numbers…
Both teams struggled to hang on to the ball. Drexel and La Salle combined for 32 turnovers, disallowing either team to find a rhythm on offense.

Drexel cashed in at the free throw line, making 21-of-24 (87.5%) of its attempts. Meanwhile, La Salle struggled, with a mediocre 15-of-27 (55.6%) performance at the line. That was big on a day where both teams shot below 40 percent from the floor.

Up Next…
La Salle (4-3) @ Villanova (7-0) (Dec. 13, 5:00 PM)
Drexel (1-6) @ South Carolina (7-0) (Dec. 15, 7 PM)