skip navigation

La Salle snaps losing streak with win over Massachusetts

02/01/2017, 10:45pm EST
By Will Slover

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
--

Breaking out of a losing streak is no easy task.

After winning five in a row in conference play, La Salle lost by 38 points at the hands of VCU and followed that up with consecutive single-possession losses to city foes Penn and St. Joe’s.

Coming into their contest with Massachusetts on Wednesday, the Explorers were in desperate need of a win.

“You just can’t have losses mount,” La Salle head coach John Giannini said. “Most teams go through a tough week unless you’re unbelievably great so hopefully that was our bad week and we move forward from that. It all starts with that one win that gets you feeling better again.”

Thankfully for the Explorers, they got that much needed win on Wednesday as they topped UMass by a score of 88-78 in front of a loud crowd at Tom Gola Arena.

“We really needed that badly,” Giannini said. “We really needed that. That’s a talented team that we played and we’re thrilled we got a much needed win.”

Although La Salle (12-8, 6-3 Atlantic 10) won the game by double-digits, it was no easy victory for the Explorers.

Trailing by five, 39-34, at half after shooting an abysmal 3-of-10 from beyond the arc and turning the ball over eight times while allowing UMass (12-11, 2-8 Atlantic 10) to stroke it at a 15-of-27 (.555) clip from the field in the first half, La Salle needed to turn things at the break to make sure that losing streak didn’t extend to four.

A completely different Explorer squad came out of the locker room for the second half, as La Salle turned the tables on UMass and shot 13-of-22 (.591) from the field and turned the ball over just four times in the second frame while holding the Minutemen to 11-of-31 (.354) and forcing eight turnovers.

“In the second half, we held them to 35 percent from the field,” junior forward B.J. Johnson said. “Whenever we’re making shots and stopping them from scoring and going on runs, it’s just fun for the whole team.”

Leading La Salle in its dominant second half were Johnson and senior guard Jordan Price.

The two combined for 49 points on the night, 28 for Johnson and 21 for Price, with Johnson also grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds and Price dishing out a team-high five assists.

A veteran core that can keep everyone focused is exactly what a team looking to end a losing streak needs, and that’s exactly what La Salle got from its veteran core of Johnson, a redshirt junior, and Price, a redshirt senior.

“It was a rough week but we have a lot of older, veteran guys and we try to work on our leadership,” Johnson said. “Every practice we had this week was a good practice, we just made a couple mistakes during games that cost us those games. We came to practice mentally prepared and today it showed in the game.”

Price, who has ranked in the top three in the Atlantic 10 in scoring each of the last two seasons, lost his way early on in the losing streak, scoring just 11 and 10 against VCU and Penn, respectively, before finding his stroke with 21 in the St. Joe’s loss.

Although he scored 21 points against St. Joe’s, Price still wasn’t as his best as he failed to dish out any assists in the loss.

Coming back with five dimes against UMass is exactly what Giannini wants to see out of his most experienced player.

“Everyone knows Jordan can really score but when he gets 5 assists together with that, that makes us a much better team,” Giannini said. “Every team goes as their best players go and we have a lot of good players but everyone knows that Jordan is one of the best on our team and one of the best in the league and it’s really hard to win if your top guys don’t perform.”

The win also shows La Salle that it can get it done without the services of redshirt sophomore point guard Pookie Powell.

Powell, the transfer from Memphis, missed his third consecutive game on Wednesday with a bone bruise, a huge loss for the Explorers as the 6-foot guard is in the top three on the team in scoring (13.4 ppg), rebounding (4.2 rpg), and assists (3.6 apg).

“Huge loss, huge loss,” Giannini said. “You’re talking about one of the top assist-to-turnover guys in the country, one of the top scorers in the conference, one of our top defenders.”

Filling in nicely for Powell has been redshirt junior guard Amar Stukes.

Although Stukes started alongside Powell when Powell was healthy, Stukes has seen an increased role since and has thrived in it.

After scoring double-figures just once in the first 13 games of the season, Stukes has scored double digits in five of the Explorers’ last seven contests, including all three games that Powell has been sidelined, including cashing in for 12 on Wednesday, while adding in three rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Propelling UMass in the loss were an all-around efforts from Donte Clark, DeJon Jarreau and Rashaan Holloway.

Clark and Jarreau each scored 12 points, with Clark also recording six rebounds, six assists and two steals, while Jarreau reeled in a team-best eight rebounds. Holloway, the 6-foot-11, 310-pound center led the team with 19 points and also grabbed seven rebounds.

“[UMass head coach] Derek [Kellogg] got a good one,” Giannini said of Holloway, the Schalick (N.J.) graduate. “He’s obviously very big, but he’s extremely skilled. When he gets the ball down low, it’s a problem.”

With Powell’s future still uncertain, Giannini’s squad will look to start another winning streak, this one possibly without its star guard, as it travels to George Mason to face the Patriots on Saturday.

“He’s a big loss but we all deal with loss in life,” Giannini said. “We have to overcome some things and we did tonight and we have to continue to do that.”


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Events  Division I  La Salle  Big 5  Will Slover