City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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PHILADELPHIA — As he watched Clark Slajchert’s layup give Penn a lead with the seconds winding down in overtime, Khalil Brantley’s mind flashed back to Wednesday night.

The La Salle junior pictured himself back at the free throw looking to seal a double overtime win over Temple, and instead missing both before the Explorers fell in the third OT.

“After he makes that basket, it’s like I gotta do it for these guys,” Brantley said. “I gotta figure something out, get the ball in the basket and win it for our team because we’ve worked so hard through the summer. We were resilient through the whole game. For the most part, that’s all that was going through my head. I gotta do it for them.”

Brantley had three or four seconds to make something happen. With his speed he calculated that meant getting to half court and letting something fly. He actually got a step over before firing.

Bank and ball through the net at the buzzer meant a 93-92 La Salle overtime win over Penn at the Wells Fargo Center.

“He made a great play great shot, obviously some great fortune in it, but it was just maybe our turn today,” La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy said, sitting next to Brantley at the postgame podium.

Slajchert tied his career-high with his 33rd point of the night seconds before Brantley’s buzzer beater went in, giving Penn a two-point lead in overtime. 

Led by Slajchert, freshman Tyler Perkins, who scored 18 of his 20 points after halftime, and junior forward Nick Spinoso, who flirted with a triple-doubl (17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists), the Quakers led by as many as nine in the second half.

La Salle still trailed 82-76 with 3:16 to go after a stepback three by Perkins. Those were Penn’s final three points of regulationThe Explorers’ defense finally got some stops, allowing Brantley to tie the game with a pair of free throws with 1:33 to play. Penn had three chances to go ahead and La Salle had one but the buzzer beater was saved for OT.

Slajchert missed one of the go-ahead looks in regulation on a similar drive, but got this one to go with the right hand. The Quakers had everyone back to defend after the bucket, and George Smith actually got a hand in Brantley’s face. Brantley just used “complete confidence … and a little sprinkle of God,” to dash Penn’s hopes of a Big 5 win.

“It’s hard,” Slajchert said of defending the last play. “They did a good job of pushing it. … I think we did almost everything we could there, but we didn’t lose the game there, obviously. We lost on the defensive end in the 40 minutes before.”

The Explorers and Quakers had tough act to follow after Drexel upset No. 18 Villanova, 57-55, in Saturday’s first game, a contest that came down to the final seconds. They followed that up with 45 minutes that included 13 ties and 14 lead changes.

Junior wing Daeshon Shepherd added 19 points and eight rebounds for La Salle. Freshman Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi had the first double-digit outing of his career, going 4-for-4 from the floor.

“There was a stretch there in the second half where I said to myself, because nobody else would listen to anything, I’m not sure how this game is going to end, but I feel good,” Dunphy said. “I think our team is arriving. I felt really good about how we competed most of the day. Obviously our defense was nowhere and I’m sure Steve will say the same thing because a lot of really good players making a lot of really good shots, and it’s again just a really good win for us.”

Dunphy went deep down the bench in the marathon game against Temple, but for the most part even in these overtime contests he has a rotation that is six to seven guys deep.

Brantley played a team-high 55 minutes in Wednesday’s triple-overtime loss to Temple. Senior guard Jhamir Brickus played 54 minutes in that one.

Brickus logged 45 minutes of action on Saturday and Shepherd was out there for 44. Brantley (37) and Anwar Gill (36) were both out there for most of the action again as well.

“The honest opinion, I could go out there and play another 20 minutes,” Brantley said. “Having a guy like Dunphy, I feel like I’d run through 1,000 brick walls for this man.”

Brickus was the one who hit big shots against Drexel and Northeastern earlier this season. But Brantley said he had plenty of experience beating the buzzer in high school, noting there’s video of at least four out there. 

Though he wish it came in the championship game instead of the third-place game, Saturday’s shot definitely jumped to the top of the list for his game-winners.

“I mean this is huge,” Brantley said. “This is my first time every playing in the Wells Fargo Arena. For my first time, to be like, ‘Yo I hit a game-winner at Wells Fargo.’ The final goal is to be a professional, but for now this one of the highlights of my career as a basketball player and as a person.”