La Salle basketball: Explorers defeat Saint Joe’s for 4th straight win
By Pan Karalis
La Salle basketball topped Saint Joe’s on Tuesday in the Big 5 season finale, earned fifth win in Atlantic 10 play
La Salle basketball avoided a winless Big 5 season with a 14-point win over rival Saint Joe’s in the city series finale on Tuesday in front of their home fans at Gola Arena. The Explorers got major contributions from just about everyone that saw the floor, with four players scoring in double digits, hitting 15 three-pointers as a team, and shooting almost 50% from behind the arc. The win moves La Salle, who started the season 0-10, to over .500 in Atlantic 10 play. They’ve now won four straight, and sit at 7-14 on the season.
The effort was likely La Salle’s most complete of the season, the Explorers finally starting to look comfortable in Ash Howard’s high tempo offense. The growing pains had been plenty for the Explorers under the first-year coach; La Salle often looked overwhelmed, sloppy, unable to play team basketball, and were sending teams to the free throw line more than just about anyone in the country. But they’re now 7-4 after their winless start, and have been gaining confidence through a forgiving portion of their conference schedule, which saw them play the bottom five teams in the league six times in their first nine games of their Atlantic 10 season.
The ball movement in the half court has been much improved for La Salle since the start of the season, making smarter passes and forcing fewer contested drives to the basket. That was illustrated on Tuesday with the Explorers assisting on 20 of their 29 made field goals. And as the team effort has improved, some of their players have developed perhaps quicker than expected. Junior Saul Phiri, who missed the first ten games of the year, has become a significant contributor since his return to the lineup, almost doubling his scoring output from last season with an increase of only two minutes per game in his time.
More from Atlantic 10
- VCU Basketball: Impact of not having Joe Bamisile for 2023-24 season
- Duquesne Basketball: Ranking the 13 non-con opponents for 2023-24 season
- Saint Louis Basketball: Mike Meadows the ideal late addition to the roster
- Atlantic 10 Basketball: Each team’s best acquisition out of 2023 transfer portal
- Rhode Island and Providence agree to renew annual rivalry for next 10 years
A career 29% three-point shooter before this season, Phiri is now over 40% on the year from three-point range. He went 5-8 from beyond the arc on Tuesday, contributing 17 total points. Freshman Ed Croswell has come on strong for Ash Howard’s side as well, and according to KenPom has the highest offensive rebounding rate of anyone in the country. Yup, you read that correctly; a freshman on a team that started 0-10 might be the best offensive rebounder in college basketball.
Senior Pookie Powell, Traci Carter, and South Carolina transfer David Beatty joined Phiri with double digits. La Salle out-rebounded Saint Joe’s by 11, earned 7 more trips to the free-throw line, shot better from the floor by almost 10%, and, perhaps most importantly, stayed out of foul trouble. The Explorers are now 7-1 when committing fewer than 20 personal fouls.
The 14-point margin probably reflects generously on Saint Joe’s; La Salle controlled the game from start to finish, and the Hawks only stayed in the game thanks to an unbelieveable effort from Lorenzo Edwards. The sophomore forward had shot 18.2% from three-point range on the season, and went 6-6 against the Explorers from deep on Tuesday, totalling 22 points. Saint Joe’s had two other players in double-digits, with only seven scholarship players available with the absence of Fresh Kimble, Checco Oliva, and Anthony Longpre. The spiraling Hawks are now 3-8 in conference play.
La Salle is perhaps the streakiest team in division one basketball, with their results all coming in bunches this year. After starting 0-10, they won three straight before dropping four more in a row, following that with their current four-game winning streak. But their continued improvement over Ash Howard’s first season, regardless of record, should be highly encouraging for La Salle fans.
dark. Next. Mid-major bubble teams buy or sell
Things will be more difficult in the Atlantic 10 for the Explorers for much of the rest of this season, but their 5-4 start has set them up for perhaps a middle of the pack finish in the league, something most thought impossible as they limped into the conference season. And a Big 5 victory and a defeat of bitter rival Saint Joe’s will always make Explorers faithful happy.