City of Basketball Love

Graham Foley (@graham_foley3)
--

La Salle’s redshirt junior guard B.J. Johnson smiled and pumped his fist after slamming down a game sealing dunk as the final seconds ticked away in an 84-80 Explorers win over Florida Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.

It was a fitting end for a game in which Johnson put the Explorers on his back and scored a career-high 35 points, 28 of which came in the second half.

Johnson, however, was unaware of those numbers. His focus was simply on the game.

“I’m just playing,” Johnson said. “I’m trying to be aggressive without being too aggressive and trying to make the right decisions on the court. But I’m just playing for the most part.”

Johnson’s unprecedented offensive outburst came as no surprise to head coach John Giannini who has always been impressed by Johnson’s talent.

“We’ve seen him do that in practice,” Giannini said. “There was a practice last year the he made 17 threes in a 20 minute scrimmage so we think he’s pretty good. It’s not like I’m shocked. I didn’t realize it was 35 but if you told me he could score 35 in a game I’d say ‘absolutely.’ I think he’s really talented and I’m not surprised he did so well.”

Johnson’s 28 second half points surpassed his career high for points in a full game. He also finished with just one turnover.

Surprisingly, Johnson did not show this type of domination in the first half. Instead, the Explorers spread the wealth as Johnson finishing with seven points, senior guard Jordan Price with six, and junior guard Johnnie Schuler also with six.

Redshirt-senior Cleon Roberts led the team with eight first half points despite sustaining an ankle injury with just a few minutes left in the half. He did not return to the game and according to Giannini, his status is still unknown.

La Salle controlled much of the first half jumping out to an 11 point lead 7:04 into the game. The Explorers sustained leads of ten or more points on four occasions.

However, Florida Gulf Coast closed the half on a 13-5 run fueled by 14 points from junior guard Brandon Goodwin as well as 14 points from freshman guard Rayjon Tucker. The duo combined to provide 28 of the team's 39 first half points and four of the team’s six first half 3-point shots. Tucker’s 3-point shot with three seconds left in the first half tied the game at 39.

In the second half, Johnson took over the game.

After FGCU took a three point lead thanks to a monster dunk from redshirt-freshman guard Zach Johnson, B.J. Johnson responded by hitting a jumper on the next possession and following it with a monster dunk of his own that gave the Explorers a 47-46 lead.

After the Eagles hit back to back jumpers to take a 50-47 lead, Johnson nailed a 3-point shot to tie the game at 50. Johnson then scored 13 of the Explorers’ next 19 points and electrified the crowd with two more 3-point shots, these ones coming back-to-back.

Johnson and Price proceeded to control the game for La Salle combining for 38 of the team’s 45 second half points. The duo were the only two La Salle players to hit a field goal in the final ten minutes of the game.

According to Giannini, having Johnson and Price working well together and playing for their team instead of themselves is crucial for La Salle’s success in any game.

“When your most talented guys are dependable, you can really have a special team,” Giannini said. “When you look at any team who has had a lot of success, there’s a saying that ‘your lead dogs have to lead.’ And that’s another really good sign for our team. There really isn’t another way to have a good team.

“If your highly talented guys underperform, you’re not going to reach your potential. So, to have those guys do that I think is a great sign for our team. And I don’t think B.J. went out there trying to score 35 points. I think he did what his team needed him to do to win and same thing with Jordan.”

Coming into Saturday’s game, Johnson and Price were already the team’s top two scorers. Combined, the duo have averaged 35.9 ppg this season while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from beyond the arc on 92 attempts. Johnson is 10th and Price is 12th in the A10 in scoring.

In his last five games, Johnson himself has shot 53.4 percent from the floor (31-for-58) and 46.4 percent from three-point range (13-for-28). He has averaged 18.6 ppg in that span as well. Johnson was also named the A-10 Co-Player of the Week on December 5th. He has established himself as the Explorers’ most potent weapon.

Despite this, Giannini believes his team has no one guy leading the team. However, he has been impressed with the Johnson’s on-court presence and the junior’s ability to lead his team to victories like today’s by example.

“He has given great effort, he’s been very unselfish, his teammates respect him and when he speaks people listen,” Giannini said. “But we really don’t have a dominant personality on this team -- and that’s fine. But there’s no Ramon Galloway kind of guy who is going to take control of every huddle.

“It’s more of a leadership by committee and people lead based on their personalities. And I think based on his personality, B.J. has been a great leader. Sometimes the less you say the more people listen and I think B.J. is one of those guys.”