City of Basketball Love

Austin Petolillo (@AustinPSports) 
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The La Salle Explorers opened their 2017-18 campaign with a 61-40 victory over Saint Peter’s on Saturday night at Tom Gola Arena. Here are some notes and quotes from the game:

1. Explorers show off improved defense

One of the biggest issues for the 2016-17 La Salle basketball team was its defense. The Explorers let up an average of 76.6 ppg to opposing teams (73rd worst in Division I and worst among teams in the Atlantic 10), let the opposition shoot 46.7 percent from the floor (39th worst in Division I, worst in A-10), and 39.4 percent from beyond the arc (11th worst in Division I, worst in A10).

Saturday though, was a different story as they only allowed Saint Peter’s to score 40 points, including just 19 points heading into the half. The Peacocks shot 30.6 percent from the floor, 35 percent from three and turned the ball over 17 times.

“The defense was terrific,” La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “Obviously that was our off-season focus, it’s a lot harder said than done and our guys did a great job.”

The key moment(s) in the game came during the first half where the Explorers did not allow a single point from the 11:50 mark in the first half until the 1:09 mark when Saint Peter’s hit a three to stop the almost 11-minute, 27-0 La Salle run.

“Coach got on us during a timeout because at one point they were shooting 60 percent from the field.” La Salle senior forward B.J. Johnson said. “He got on us for that and then me and the guys tried to drill it in our heads that we needed to get stops.”

2. Johnson and Powell guide the offense

On the offensive end, La Salle was led by redshirt-junior guard Pookie Powell as Powell dropped in a game-high 18 points, with 13 of them coming in the second half. Powell also connected on 4-of-7 shots from beyond the arc and shot 67 percent from the field.

Johnson on the other hand, recorded his first double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.

“Well they better do that all year, those are my thoughts.” Giannini said. “They’re really good players, and they’re our leaders and they’re preseason all-conference guys so that’s how guys like that are supposed to play.”

Johnson, who averaged 17.6 ppg and 6.3 rpg, was named to the 2017 preseason All-Atlantic 10 second team.

3. Deas and Phiri provide spark with hustle

While they didn’t put up big numbers on the statsheet, sophomores Saul Phiri and Isiah Deas certainly made the big hustle plays.

“Probably the play of the game was Isiah diving on a loose ball to give us an extra possession,” Giannini said. “It was a huge momentum play, they were hovering around cutting the lead into single digits and I thought it was a gigantic play.”

Phiri had a moment early in the second half where there was a fastbreak and he was all alone for the dunk. Problem is, he missed the dunk, which would have put La Salle up by 12.

“Saul feels terrible about missing that open dunk,” Giannini said. “But Saul plays hard, he got us off to a great start, he got an offensive rebound and an and-one.”

Both players did not see a lot of action last season as Deas only averaged 9.9 mpg in 17 games, while Phiri averaged 6.3 mpg in 24 games. On Saturday, Phiri got the starting nod and played 19 minutes while Deas played 12 minutes.

“Saul has transformed his body, he’s in unbelievable shape, he’s a good player.” Giannini said. “Isiah has really matured and he’s become very dependable, he’s good every day in practice and he knows what he’s doing.”

4. Brookins continues to impress in freshman season

In his first college game, freshman center Miles Brookins was perfect from the field going three-for-three and converting on an and-one, his only trip to the stripe.

“Miles Brookins is just the surprise of the year for us,” Giannini said. “He’s just unbelievably mature on and off the court and we can count on him.”

The 6-foot-10 Cypress, California native played under head coach Gary McKnight at Mater Dei high school and led the Monarchs to a 33-3 record while earning All-Trinity League second team honors.

“He’s like a 30 year professional veteran player,” Giannini said. “He just knows what he’s doing all the time on and off the court.”

5. Jones returns to Philly area

There is a local connection on Saint Peter’s team this season as former Pennsbury guard Cameron Jones enters his redshirt-sophomore season with the Peacocks.

After sitting out last season due to a voluntary redshirt, Jones scored nine points on 43 percent shooting from both the field and beyond the arc while grabbing three rebounds, dishing out two assists and picking up two steals in his first game in about a year and a half.