City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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La Salle got all it could handle from SWAC preseason favorite Texas Southern, who clearly wasn’t fazed playing in an unfriendly gym more than 1,500 miles from home. Despite a terrific outing from redshirt junior B.J. Johnson, the Explorers were stunned at the buzzer by Dulani Robinson and the Tigers, who came away with a 77-76 win.

At First…
Texas Southern had the momentum early, with Robinson hitting an early pair of triples to help the Tigers open up a 10-4 lead at the first media timeout. The margin only continued to widen from that point, as TSU hit seven of its first 13 shots to go up by 21-8 with 10:58 remaining. Johnson who got La Salle’s engine running, knocking down a left-wing 3-pointer and then a baseline fadeaway jumper to kick off a 15-4 run over the next 5:11; a 7-0 La Salle run with under four minutes before halftime, which also featured a Johnson trey, gave the Explorers their first lead of the game, and it was 35-34 La Salle at the half.

The Tigers started off the second half with a 12-6 spurt to re-take the lead, but La Salle found its footing, and the teams stayed within three points of each other all the way down inside the final four minutes. After Robinson got a floater to stick to give TSU a 68-65 lead with 3:32 left, La Salle’s Cleon Roberts knocked down a huge triple from straightaway to even things up before Amar Stukes’ fourth steal resulted in his layup the other way to put the Explorers back up a bucket with 2:45 to play.

Turning Point…
With the lead still three points and under a minute to play, La Salle’s Pookie Powell had a chance to put his team up five with a dunk, but caught iron instead, allowing Texas Southern to get within one thanks to a layup at the other end. With 5.1 seconds left and a two point lead, Demetrius Henry missed the first end of a 1-and-1; Robinson grabbed the rebound and raced downcourt, pulling up and knocking down the game-winning 3-pointer from the right wing at the buzzer.

Standout Stars…
Johnson, a 6-foot-7 wing/forward out of Lower Merion by way of Syracuse, looked like a man amongst boys at times, scoring 24 points on just eight field goal attempts thanks to some impressive efficiency. Getting his second straight start for the Explorers, Johnson finished 6-for-8 from the field, knocking down all three attempts from long-range; Johnson also knocked down all nine of his free throws in an impressive all-around scoring performance.

In another display of efficiency, redshirt-senior wing Cleon Roberts hit all six of his shots from the field, including four from behind the arc, to finish with 16 points after scoring just three in the first half.

Noteworthy Number(s)...
11: With Yevgen Sakhniuk and Johnnie Shuler getting starting nods, all 11 players who have seen action for the Explorers this season have also started at least one game. Giannini used the third different lineup on Saturday afternoon, starting Shuler and Sakhniuk along with Price, Johnson and Roberts. No La Salle player has started all three games; Pookie Powell was the only one to start the first two.

40: La Salle’s bench outscored Texas Southerns’ 40-13, thanks to solid outings by Roberts, Powell (8 pts), Stukes (7) and Tony Washington (7). It’s actually the second-best outing by the reserves in three games, after Price and Johnson came off the bench to combine for 45 of the Explorers’ 59 bench points in a Nov. 11 loss to Temple.

10: La Salle was outrebounded, 35-25 by the Tigers, including an 11-6 advantage on the offensive glass.

Up Next…
La Salle (2-1) @ Drexel (1-2) -- Sun., Nov. 27, 4:00 PM