City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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La Salle let the wrong guy take a game-winning 3-pointer.

After Demetrius Henry missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with the Explorers up two points and five seconds to play, the rebound wound up in the hands of Texas Southern senior guard Dulani Robinson.

As he raced down the court with the clock winding down, Robinson was far from panicked -- probably because he’d been in that situation before.

“I already had in my mind I was gonna hit the shot if I got the opportunity again,” Robinson said.

And just like on Dec. 20, 2014, when -- while playing at his old school, Pacific -- he hit a deep pull-up 3-pointer to lift those Tigers past Fresno State, Robinson was money.

His right-wing triple over the outstretched arm of La Salle’s Amar Stukes splashed through as the buzzer sounded, and the Texas Southern bench poured onto the court to pile on the 5-foot-8 Oakland native.

“I work on it all the time so it was like a rhythm shot for me, so I just stepped into it and believed in it,” Robinson said. “We wanted to get home. That’s how I play. In my city you go hard, or go home.”

It was the fitting finish to a back-and-forth contest that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, though it certainly wasn’t the ending La Salle (1-2) was hoping for on homecoming.

“That’s a crushing loss,” were the first words Explorers head coach John Giannini said at the post-game podium. “We should have picked (Robinson) up sooner, but that was not the play that determined the game. I could name a dozen plays that were infinitely worse than that one, and they all count the same.”

One of those plays in particular stood out.

Up three points with 40 seconds to play, La Salle had a chance to put the game away. Redshirt sophomore Pookie Powell found himself wide open in the left corner, but instead of letting the shot fly, he drove baseline, then rose up for a right-handed dunk that instead found the back of the rim.

Texas Southern capitalized on the other end, getting a runner from Zach Lofton to turn what would have been a five-point game into a one-point edge, setting up the wild finish.

“If there was one play to me that was probably more upsetting, it was probably that, because that was the game,” Giannini said. “Having an uncontested shot at the rim to ice a game is something that I think we all need to make.

“I’ve lost a lot of games in my career like this...a one-point game or overtime game that comes down to a no-one-near-you shot to win the game, and you try to dunk it and miss it,” he added. “It’s happened to me many times over the years, and I feel bad because I love Pookie and I love those other guys, and I know their names and I know they’re going to read this and think ‘damn, even after all these years later, it still hurts.’”

The ending ruined ruined impressive offensive performances from both Syracuse transfer B.J. Johnson and redshirt-senior Cleon Roberts. Johnson erupted for a career high 24 points on just eight field goal attempts (6/8 FG, 3/3 3PT, 9/9 FT), while Roberts knocked down all six of his shots -- including four from deep -- to finish with 16.

Combined, the rest of the Explorers shot just 13-for-41 (31.7 percent) from the floor.

“We had a lot of guys struggle. The only guys who made some shots, it looks like, were B.J. and Cleon,” Giannini said. “So besides them, I thought everybody struggled. They’re a tough team, and sometimes toughness bothers us.”

La Salle certainly had issues with Texas Southern on the defensive end of the floor, allowing the Tigers to shoot 15-of-27 (55.6 percent) in the second half while getting outrebounded 35-25 for the game.

The Explorers did force 14 turnovers, but it clearly wasn’t the defensive effort Giannini and staff wanted as the Tigers were continually able to get into the lane and find open shots. Led by Robinson’s 17 points, five different Texas Southern players scored in double figures.

“Texas Southern deserved it -- we didn’t rebound well enough, we fouled too much, we didn’t stop them enough,” Giannini said.

The Explorers have a much-needed eight-day layoff before their next game, a city trip to Drexel (Nov. 27), before home games against Lehigh (Nov. 30) and Bucknell (Dec. 3). Looming just after that stretch is a game against defending national champion Villanova at the Palestra on Dec. 6.

If they want to get the momentum back before that Big 5 clash, they need to start right away.

“It’s really hard,” Giannini said. “but we have plenty of time, and we’ll be okay.”