skip navigation

Varano, La Salle gaining momentum towards tough home stretch

02/01/2022, 1:00am EST
By Matthew Ryan

Matthew Ryan (@matthewryan02)

After starting out Catholic League play 0-2, La Salle is back on track, with its biggest tests yet to come.

The Explorers opened up league play with losses to West Catholic and Cardinal O’Hara, putting a team with PCL title hopes in an early deficit. Following the loss to the Lions, there was a shift inside the La Salle locker room, a realization that the skid couldn’t continue if La Salle was to approach expectations.


Nix Varano (above) and La Salle have won five straight PCL games after an 0-2 start. (Photo: Matthew Ryan/CoBL)

“When we lost [to O’Hara], we felt like we should have won that game, we were really bummed out,” senior guard Nix Varano said. “So we talked as a team a ton of times, figured some stuff out and now we’re rolling. 

“I feel like it was just like the disappointment of losing and then we all decided we really just (have) to buy into what the coaches are telling us, and when we did that it just clicked.”

Since that game on January 12, the Explorers have won six straight, five coming in the PCL, capped off with a 60-42 victory over rival St. Joe’s Prep on Monday.

Even though La Salle (12-4, 5-2 PCL) has been red-hot over the past few weeks and St. Joe’s Prep (7-8, 2-7) is a young team trying to navigate PCL play, the first quarter of action had the makings of a classic rivalry showdown; the underdog hanging tough against a superior opponent. The young Hawks came out solid, withstanding La Salle for the first eight minutes, as they entered the second quarter knotted up at 12.

But then the Explorers’ offense got cooking, and the Prep simply couldn’t keep up. Rutgers football commit Sam Brown scored seven of his nine points in the second frame and sophomore Joe Shields and Varano combined for 10 points in the quarter to give the Explorers a 34-23 halftime lead.

The third quarter was much like the second, La Salle’s offense hitting shots while the Hawks went quiet. 

As the fourth quarter came around, the Explorers all but had the game under wraps, but the hustle didn’t stop. With under 5:30 left and leading by 19, senior guard Chris Williams dove on the floor for a loose ball, gaining possession and eventually passing it to an open teammate. 

“I mean, that’s all props to coach [Mike] McKee,” Varano said of his teammate’s effort play. “He brings that out of us. At the beginning of the year, we weren’t doing that stuff. He just kept saying ‘we’ve got to get dirty, we got to get on the floor, we got to go get rebounds.’ He just kept telling us to do it and now we’re really doing it.”

The Explorers were led by Varano and junior wing Horace Simmons with 17 points apiece. While Simmons showed off his range, knocking down two 3s in the first half, his 11 points over the final two quarters all came inside of the arc as he was able to get to the basket and the free-throw line. Varano, on the other hand, did virtually all his damage from deep, the Army commit burying five long balls and only scoring once from two-point range.

Freshman guard Jaron McKie, son of Temple head coach Aaron McKie, was the only Prep player in double figures, with 16 points.

The loss put a damper on the Prep’s postseason hopes. The Hawks are currently on the outside looking in, sitting in 11th place in the PCL, the top 10 qualifying for the playoffs next month. They have a tough schedule to close the season but Friday’s game against Father Judge (2-7 PCL) could determine who gets the final postseason spot.

While La Salle is clearly hot right now, the victories have undoubtedly come against inferior competition. The current combined record of the Explorers’ five PCL wins is just 9-34 (.209), and they only have two wins over current PCL playoff teams, their best win coming against Devon Prep. They have done their job against the bottom of the league, but now have their work cut out against the big guns.

On Wednesday, they travel to Neumann-Goretti (4-1 PCL) for their final road game of the season. Then they host Archbishop Wood (8-0) followed by Roman Catholic (8-1) next Monday. The final three contests get only slightly easier but are certainly not cakewalks as they face Bonner-Prendie (1-6), Archbishop Carroll (3-5) and Archbishop Ryan (7-2).

Currently sitting at sixth in the PCL, the Explorers have all but guaranteed themselves a spot in the league playoffs. But two questions still remain: Will they be in the top six and/or will they be in the top four and hosting a playoff game? The latter is unlikely but if La Salle does pull it off, it means the Explorers probably picked up two wins during the Neumann-Wood-Roman gauntlet.

But as the end of the season approaches and incredibly tough games loome, La Salle isn’t going to look ahead, as hard as that may be.

“Our mindset is just one game at a time,” McKee said. “You can’t look too far ahead, especially in the Catholic League. [...] We’ve just got to get ready for Wednesday. That’s all we can worry about.”

“We’re focused on Neumann on Wednesday, we go down there, so that’ll be tough but we’re ready, we’re locked in, and we want it,” Varano said.

By Quarter

La Salle: 12 | 22 | 13 | 13 || 60

St. Joe’s Prep: 12 | 11 | 7 | 12 || 42

Scoring

La Salle: Horace Simmons 17, Nix Varano 17, Chris Williams 10, Sam Brown 9, Joe Shields 5, Tim Jennings 2

St. Joe’s Prep: Jaron McKie 16, Tristen Guillouette 6, Jalen Harper 5, Jaiden Vargas 5, Jackson Gaffney 4, Thomas Hart 2, Olin Chamberlain 2, Luke Brown 2


D-I Coverage:

HS Coverage:

Small-College News:

Tag(s): Home  Matthew Ryan  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  La Salle College HS  St. Joe's Prep  High School