City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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LEWISBURG — Subtract a whole bunch of points and a whole bunch of rebounds from your lineup — along with a whole bunch of experience — and the lack of those numbers and intangibles has to hurt.

And while not having high-scoring senior forward B.J. Johnson available on Friday night at Bucknell University’s noisy Sojka Pavilion starched La Salle quite a bit, Dr. John Giannini’s club valiantly tried to fill that sizable void. Unfortunately, a lack of frontcourt depth really proved troublesome.

Helps explain why the Explorers closed out the non-league portion of their regular-season schedule with an 88-81 loss to a Bucknell squad that turned several timely runs into a satisfying success. The Bison also avenged last season's loss to La Salle in Philadelphia.

Nana Foulland poured in a career-high 30 points to lead the Bison (6-7) — Foulland knocked down 12 of his 15 shots from the floor and really had his way in the painted area, especially when the Explorers’ Tony Washington found himself in foul trouble — including 19 before the halftime break.

Lead guard Stephen Brown added 21 points for the hosts — including 11 before the halftime break — while Zach Thomas netted 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as Bucknell won for the 14th straight time at home.

La Salle had its heroes, however, as high-octane guard Pookie Powell matched his career high by tossing in 29 points. The Explorers, who will open Atlantic 10 play next Saturday against visiting Saint Louis, also picked up a career-high 24 points off the bench from Isiah Deas.

Of course, the La Salle bench is where the 6-7 Johnson was parked alongside the assistant coaches while sporting civilian clothes and with a walking boot encasing his injured left leg. With Johnson out, that’s nearly 22 points and just over nine rebounds that Giannini & Co. had to do without.

The problem is Giannini doesn’t know when his high-scoring forward will be able to return.

La Salle also played without 6-9, 210-pound freshman Miles Brookins, who would have given the visitors another big body to lean on the 6-10, 235-pound Foulland and the 6-7, 230-pound Thomas.

Once Washington was assessed several fouls in the first half and several more in the second — the 6-10 senior fouled out with 1:59 left and the Explorers down 82-73 — Giannini’s only other option if La Salle wanted to play with a true post player was to run reed-thin 7-2 freshman Cian Sullivan into the fray and he struggled mightily.

Sullivan was on the floor midway through the first half when Bucknell uncorked a 12-0 run that turned a 17-13 deficit into a 25-17 lead. Foulland had seven straight points to fuel the burst — two from the line, a three-point play on which he overpowered Sullivan and a layup — while Brown offered five more.

“When we had Tony Washington out, they made their run,” Giannini said. “Foulland was terrific and Tony gave him some resistance. With Tony out, we were in trouble.”

Although Powell and Deas combined for 23 first-half points to keep La Salle somewhat upbeat — Powell netted 14 before the break — the Explorers still went to the break down 41-34.

When Washington was assessed his third personal early in the second half, Giannini sat down his big man and went small, opting to bring on 6-6 freshman Dajour Joseph to go with the 6-7 Deas up front and the three-guard backcourt.

While Thomas’ finish at the tin had the Bison in front by 10 (47-37), what followed was an 8-2 run triggered by a Deas flush and capped by consecutive treys from Joseph and Deas that made it a four-point game going into the first of four second-half media timeouts.

Bucknell responded favorably, however, as the ball cycled to Ben Robertson on the right wing and the 6-5 sophomore took off for the hoop, elevated and put Joseph on a poster that had the crowd of 2,500-plus roaring in delight. Robertson tacked on the ensuing freebie to complete the three-point play.

“That was a big-time play,” Foulland admitted. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, but when I saw him rise up I said, ‘Please be a block.’ When the referee called a block, we were able to push on.”

When Brown reestablished his feet inbounds nearly a minute later, snared his own miss, absorbed contact as Washington drew his fourth foul and converted the stickback, the Bison had another three-point play in the bag.

And they were sitting on a 10-point bulge (55-45).

“The small lineup helped us offensively, but hurt us against a team of that size,” Giannini said. “So we made a run that got us back in it, but we couldn’t sustain it. Dajour gave us a lift, but his inexperience showed on the dunk and the three-point play that gave them momentum.”

Thomas took his turn inflicting damage on the Explorers, knocking down all eight of his free-throw attempts during one stretch as Bucknell’s cushion grew to a seemingly comfortable 16 points (66-50). When Deas canned two freebies of his own, Nate Jones answered with a trey to give the Bison their largest lead at 17.

Thomas, who came in averaging just under 23 points per outing, was held scoreless in the first half.

“Zach did a good job,” Bucknell head coach Nathan Davis said. “He didn’t force anything. Obviously, they tried to take some of his shots away, but other guys stepped up.”

Bucknell’s lead actually wavered between 15 and 17 points for several minutes — the Bison went to Foulland on four consecutive trips and he delivered field goals on four consecutive journeys — and they were up 82-66 when Foulland collected his 29th and 30th points of the game.

Just under four minutes remained.

“We could not stop them,” Giannini said. “They are very good. We obviously missed B.J. and Miles. Miles would have given us another big body, which we needed.”

Even though things appeared grim, La Salle refused to surrender.

The Explorers were able to get within six points (87-81) on Deas’ late leaner, but that was about it as La Salle will need to turn its focus to Atlantic 10 play.

“Give our guys a lot of credit,” Davis said. “We showed tremendous resilience when they made a couple of runs.”

“I’m not surprised we fought to the end, because we have good kids,” Giannini lauded. “We just wish we would have played better.”