City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The La Salle men’s basketball team played in front of the public for the first time on Thursday night at Tom Gola Arena during the Explorers’ annual Blue & Gold scrimmage.

The women’s team helped them kick off  the festivities with a co-ed hot shot competition and 3-point contest before the men played two 10-minute periods against each other.

Here are our observations from the night:

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La Salle coach Fran Dunphy downplayed the results of Thursday night’s scrimmage. “No defense” is how the veteran coach described the exhibition.

Still it was hard to ignore the show junior 6-foot-5 wing Daeshon Shepherd put on. Shepherd put up eight points in the first 10-minute stretch of game action. His long range game was on display with a pair of threes.

In the second, 10-minute stretch Shepherd added another 10 points. This time it was with a high-flying display of athleticism. He tossed down four alley oops and added a highlight putback slam that was Sportscenter Top 10 worthy. 

“How about his athleticism?” Dunphy said. “Ridiculous. Totally ridiculous.”

“They were looking for him.”

The Archbishop Wood product played in 25 games during his sophomore campaign, averaging 6.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg in 18 minutes per contest.

Guards Khalil Brantley, Anwar Gill and Jhamir Brickus are the knowns on the Explorers this season. Shepherd has the physical tools to emerge as an impact player on both ends.

“We hope that he has a tremendous year,” Dunphy said. “He makes shots on the perimeter, gets to the rim. He’s gotta be a great offensive rebounder for us. He’s gotta be a great defensive rebounder. I think he’s gotta play five different positions defensively. All of those things are in my mind. That’s what we need from him. He needs to be a complete player every game.”

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Sophomore forward Rokas Jocius is in for a big increase in minutes and responsibility, and the big man showed some promising flashes on Thursday night.

A 6-10 post from Lithuania, Jocius played in 28 games last year with two starts, seeing just under 15 minutes per game. With that time, he averaged 4.5 ppg and 3.3 rpg, flashing an ability to shoot the 3-pointer (5-of-13) and score around the bucket, with a good frame and mobility which boded well long-term.

At the Blue & Gold Scrimmage, he was active on both ends, with his teammates looking for him in numerous post-up situations, getting him the ball on the block and letting him go to work. He hit a few right-handed hooks, an up-and-under layup, and popped out to knock down a trey over the course of the two 10-minute games, his body looking a bit stronger from last year and in general looking much more comfortable in the flow of the game. 

“Rokas, well he’s gotta be great for us,” Dunphy said. He’s gotta be a great rebounder, he made some shots, made a couple of jump hooks. We’re certainly trying to (feed him the ball in the post)...the defense was nothing, but he’s going to be someone who can help us offensively, [we’ll be] running our offense through him a lot.”

Jocius wasn’t the only forward on the Explorers’ roster to have a positive evening. Freshman forward Efe Tahmaz, a 6-8 ‘4’ man from Turkey, had several highlight-reel plays, including a big-time dunk and an emphatic block on a layup, adding in a Mutombo-esque finger wag for good measure. He also made some good passes and his only 3-point attempt looked smooth, and while it doesn’t sound like he’ll be in the rotation right away in his college years, there’s something to build on.

“Efe needs to continue to work hard at the game and understand his role,” Dunphy said. “He’s gotta get stronger. He’s a pretty good shooter but in order to make shots you’ve got to be able to get shots, and that’s what he’s working on.”

Two others who should factor into the rotation: redshirt sophomore combo guard Andres Marrero and freshman wing Tunde Vahlbeg Fasasi. Marrero, a 6-5 wing, knocked down a 3-pointer in the first game but spent most of the second feeding lobs to Shepherd; Fasasi, a 6-8 wing, also hit an early 3-pointer but didn’t have an impact on the scrimmage the way that several others did, though buzz has been high around him all preseason.

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La Salle women’s freshman Nicole Melious put on a show in the 3-point contest. Her 19 points topped Brickus’ 14 for the win in the event. The audience got into it with each shot the 5-8 guard buried, letting out its loudest cheer when she knocked down the ‘bonus ball’ on the final rack. 

Melious, a freshman from Staten Island, N.Y., set the state scoring record for points in a single season with 1,137 points. She totaled 3,140 in her career and should carve out some type of role for Mountain MacGillivray’s Explorers this season.