City of Basketball Love

Austin Petolillo (@AustinPSports)
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With under three minutes left to go in the first half, it looked like La Salle was going to drop it’s fourth straight game.

The Explorers were already down 16 to George Mason. The defensive effort wasn’t there and the 3-pointers were not falling,

Something needed to change. 

“Actually, we didn’t change anything,” La Salle head coach John Giannini said. “Zero in terms of the game plan, but a thousand percent better in terms of execution.”

The execution, especially on defense, was much better in the second frame and proved to be enough to give the Explorers the edge over George Mason by a final score of 69-62 on Saturday afternoon.

“That was the best half of basketball that we’ve played in a long time,” Giannini said. “The defensive numbers are really impressive in the second half.”

La Salle put on a defensive masterclass in the second half, only allowing George Mason to put up 17 points. The Explorers forced four turnovers and out-rebounded the Patriots 28-17 in the second half. 

George Mason went 6-of-29 from the field (21 percent) and 1-of-9 from three (11 percent). It was very different from their first half performance when then Patriots went 18-of-29 (62 percent) from the field.

They also managed to shut down George Mason’ junior guard Otis Livingston II, who coming into Saturday was averaging 17.4 ppg on 46 percent from the field and 44 percent from three.

Livingston missed all seven of his 3-point shots as he finished 3-of-18 overall and scored only eight points.

With La Salle using multiple guys to play tight defense on Livingston at the 3-point line, he had no other option but to drive to the hoop, only to be met by La Salle senior center Tony Washington.

Aside from shutting down the rim defensively, Washington had a career day on offense, scoring a career-high 20 points while only missing two of his 11 shot attempts from the field. He also snatched a career-high in rebounds with 14.

“Tony had a great game, he went up against two freshmen bigs and that’s what I told him,” Giannini said. “I thought he could have a big game and he really came through, he played great.”

“(Giannini) told me on the defensive end to be more aggressive in the post and go after rebounds and that’s what I tried to do,” Washington said. “I tried to call for it a little bit more when I was set in my spots in the post.”

The 6-foot-10 Washington is putting up the best numbers of his career during his senior season.

After averaging 5.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg in 15.9 mpg as a junior, Washington is averaging 6.3 ppg and 5.6 rpg inn 21.8 mpg this season.

“Just keeping my head up and keep working out and getting in the gym and keep talking,” Washington said. “I think me being more vocal is what allowed me to open up more on the defensive end this season.”

For a team that was 7-7 heading into A-10 play with wins over Penn and Temple and close contests against Miami and Villanova, La Salle looked like they could turn some heads during the conference portion of its schedule.

Then La Salle finished the month of January going 2-6, leaving their record at 9-13 heading into February. The month got off to a good start after they beat St. Joe’s on Feb. 3 but then went on to lose three straight.

Today’s win could be a step in the right direction.

“I think guys get frustrated and they get a little bit down and I think it affected us mentally,” Giannini said. “ I think this makes us feel a little more confident and positive.”

Aside from Washington’s 20-point performance, senior forward B.J. Johnson had 18 points and nine rebounds, senior guard Amar Stukes had 12 points and junior guard Pookie Powell finished with 11.

The win improves La Salle to 12-15 overall and 6-8 in the A-10 where they’ll be tested out on Tuesday night by the team that sits atop the A-10, Rhode Island.

The Rams (21-4, 13-1 in A-10) are coming off a loss to St. Bonaventure on Friday night as they saw their 16-game winning streak come to an end.

“I feel like our talent level is a little higher than what we go up against,” Washington said. “We just got to play together and share the ball and grind it out with each other.”

“I think we can grind these last few games out and make a great run in the A-10 tournament coming up, I think we can win out,” he added.