City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After being upset by the LaSalle Explorers in double overtime on their home court last February, the Rams of Virginia Commonwealth came into Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday night with revenge on their mind.

Revenge is exactly what they got as they beat the Explorers 88-70 with a huge help from senior guard Melvin Johnson, who poured in 30 points, with a career high eight 3-pointers.

Johnson’s 30 points in just 27 minutes were highlighted by 20 in the first half, 14 of which came during the Rams’ 22-5 run that they used to blow the game open to give them a 44-28 lead at halftime, despite leading by just four with 6:35 remaining.

“He’s terrific against the zone, which is what happened most of the game against us,” said LaSalle coach John Giannini. “When we went man, we were able to calm him down just a little, but he’s still very good. But against our zone, he was just on fire. He was shooting them from deep, you know shooting them from places you don’t expect a guy to shoot from.”

Johnson wasn’t the only player with a hot hand for the Rams as sophomores Jonathan Williams and Justin Tillman both finished perfect from the field, going 6-of-6 and 5-for-5, with 14 and 13 points respectively.

This win marks the 12th straight for VCU (17-5, 9-0 Atlantic 10), which is the second longest win streak in Division 1 hoops, and it also made them 9-0 in the Atlantic 10 for the first time since they joined the conference before the 2012-2013 season. This loss makes a seven game skid for the Explorers, and they’ve also dropped 14 of their last 15 overall.

“Well we lost to a truly outstanding team,” said Giannini. “That’s heading to the NCAA tournament, that’s undefeated in the A10 and they showed us why today.”

In a game where not much went right for La Salle (5-16, 1-8 Atlantic 10), redshirt sophomore guard Amar Stukes (La Salle College HS) finished with a career high of 17 points, while adding in five rebounds and two assists, despite playing just 27 minutes due to committing three fouls in the opening seven minutes.

“I just knew that VCU was going to keep pressuring us and the only way to beat pressure and the only way to beat pressure is to attack it," said Stukes. “I basically just tried to attack the second half. I knew our team was down, I just tried to spark it.”

While Stukes had the scoring night of his career, junior guard Jordan Price (20.6 ppg, second in A-10) had a rough night offensively, finishing with just 10 points, his lowest total since December 22 in a loss to Miami.

Price’s offensive woes weren’t just because of VCU’s great defense, though.

“A thing that I have not talked a lot about is Jordan Price playing with a broken finger and that makes it really tough,” Giannini said. “Jordan is a guy we rely on. He’s doing his best, but playing with a broken finger is not easy.”

The broken finger, which occurred “about three weeks,” ago, has hurt Price’s offensive numbers greatly, as he’s only reached his season average once in the last eight games.

With Price struggling and only scoring 10 tonight, Johnnie Shuler (10), Cleon Roberts (14), and Rohan Brown (12) all stepped it up on the offensive end for the Explorers.

As the Explorers are expected to finish with under 10 wins for the first time since the 1997-1998 season, things are looking up for LaSalle.

“We clearly have half a team and you look at our bench and see the full team we’re about to have and I know the team I have in practice and you know this is a one year blip,” said Giannini. “We weren’t bad last year, we’re not going to be bad next year. This is a one year blip and it’s my fault.”

With Yevgen Sakhniuk out due to illness, plus B.J. Johnson (Lower Merion HS., Syracuse), Pookie Powell (Memphis) and Demetrius Henry (South Carolina) all sidelined due to NCAA transfer rules, and the team they have now all getting another year of experience under their belt, the Explorers can expect to be back to their winning ways next year.

“This program is used to winning,” said Giannini. “We’re used to beating good teams and we’ll get back to that. I’m sure we’re going to get back to that.”