Despite 19 careless and mostly unforced turnovers, the La Salle Explorers were able to jump out to a 40-22 halftime lead and hold off the Hartford Hawks for a 64-51 win on Tuesday night. After a miserable defensive effort in their previous outing against Central Connecticut State, the Explorers came out much more aggressive against an undermanned Hartford squad and were able to gain some separation with the 18 point halftime lead.
Luckily for the Explorers, Hartford also struggled on the offensive end in the second half and La Salle was able to keep a double digit lead the rest of the way en route to the 13 point victory.
The main bright spot for La Salle was the play of redshirt freshman forward Rohan Brown. The Hartford native came home and made friends and family proud with an outstanding double-double effort, scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Tyreek Duren (15), Jerrell Wright (14), and Ramon Galloway (13) also scored in double figures. Mark Nwakamma led Hartford with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
The Explorers return to the court at 1:00pm this Sunday against Big 5 rival Villanova in a nationally-televised game on the CBS Sports Network.
http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2012/11/20/MBB_1120125221.aspx?path=mbball
http://www.hartfordhawks.com/news/2012/11/20/MBB_1120121014.aspx
http://cityofbasketballlove.com/2012/11/la-salle-gets-bounce-back-win-at-hartford/
A porous defense along with a quick opponent was the wrong recipe as the La Salle Explorers were upset by the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils ran past the Explorers to the tune of 48 first half points and withheld a late charge by La Salle to pull out the win by scoring the game's last seven points after the Explorers had tied it at 74.
The loss was the last thing La Salle needed as it tries to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in two decades. They will need to get through the rest of their out of conference schedule without any more letdowns against any of their low major opponents and will need to pull an upset or two along the way.
Kyle Vinales and Adonis Burbage led the Blue Devils with 23 and 21 points. Burbage was almost perfect, going 7-8 from the floor and 5-6 from the free throw line. The Explorers had four players in double figures, led by Jerrell Wright's 18 points and 6 rebounds.
La Salle travels to Hartford to take on the Hawks on Tuesday night in a must-win game.
http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2012/11/18/MBB_1118125232.aspx?path=mbball
http://cityofbasketballlove.com/2012/11/la-salle-falls-to-central-connecticut-state-81-74/
Steve Zack (19 points, 8 rebounds) and Jerrell Wright (14 points, 10 rebounds) dominated the inside allowing the La Salle Explorers to grind out a hard-fought victory over the Delaware Blue Hens 73-66.
The Explorers jumped out to an early 21-5 lead only to see Delaware cut it to a six point halftime deficit. The Blue Hens were able to take a brief 51-50 lead in the second half and the game was tied at 60 with four minutes to go. At that point, Zack and the Explorers took over, going on a 9-4 run aided by two buckets and a blocked shot by Zack. La Salle never relinquished the lead and hung on for the seven point win.
Also scoring in double figures for the Explorers were Tyreek Duren (12) and Sam Mills (10). Delaware was led by Jarvis Threatt (17) and Devon Saddler (14). First team All-CAA power forward Jamelle Hagins was limited to 12 points by fine defensive efforts by Zack and Wright.
The Explorers return to the court a week from tomorrow for a contest at Gola Arena against Central Connecticut State.
http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2012/11/10/MBB_1110121525.aspx?path=mbball
http://cityofbasketballlove.com/2012/11/steve-zack-leads-explorers-past-delaware/
Down 53-44 with just under ten minutes to play, La Salle turned up the defensive pressure and scored just enough to slip past 2012 Canadian national champion Carleton University 61-58.
Ramon Galloway led the way with 28 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and an outstanding defensive effort on Philip Scrubb, holding the Raven's leading scorer to 12 points. Also in double figures for the Explorers was Jerrell Wright with 12 points, while Steve Zack and D.J. Peterson combined for 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Tyson Hinz scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Carleton.
La Salle opens their regular season a week from tomorrow against the University of Delaware who was the preseason pick to finish second in the CAA.
http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2012/11/2/MBB_1102122754.aspx?path=mbball
http://cityofbasketballlove.com/2012/11/la-salle-hangs-on-in-exhibition-against-carleton/
At 5:00pm on Friday October 12th, the 2012-13 La Salle Explorers held their first full practice, beginning the more than five month journey towards what will hopefully become their first NCAA appearance in over 20 years. Once again, most of the preseason prognosticators are undervaluing the talented and deep Explorers, picking them to finish anywhere between seventh and tenth in a very strong Atlantic 10.
Guards win in college basketball, and La Salle has arguably the most talented and deepest backcourt in the A10 and one of the best in the country. In addition to returning starters Ramon Galloway, Tyreek Duren, and Sam Mills and a healthy D.J. Peterson, the Explorers will add former Bartram High star and Virginia Tech transfer Tyrone Garland once the first semester ends on December 14th. Even more depth is provided by streak shooter Taylor Dunn and freshman walk-on O.J. Lewis who averaged double figures for D.C. area powerhouse Riverdale Baptist. Also on the roster is 6'3" combo guard and Delaware transfer Khalid Lewis who has to sit out the 2012-13 season due to transfer rules.
In the frontcourt, La Salle returns 6'8" sophomore power forward Jerrell Wright who is expected to have a breakout season after making the A10 All-Rookie team as a freshman. Preseason reviews of 6'11" sophomore center Steve Zack have been encouraging and there is a good chance he will take Earl Pettis' spot in the starting lineup as the Explorers will start out the season with a more traditional 3 guards, 2 bigs lineup. Also expected to contribute on the frontline are 6'7" redshirt freshman combo forward Rohan Brown, 6'9" true freshman center Jermaine Davis, and 6'10" center and Penn transfer Garvin Hunt. There will be no shortage of size and muscle on this year's roster to go along with the talented backcourt.
Coach Giannini will have lots of options in 2012-13. He can go small and play four guards or he can go big with Brown on the wing along with three big men. The Explorers will be a matchup nightmare for most teams.
The preseason fun continued with the Bill Raftery Open Practice and Reception on Friday October 19th and was followed by an open practice event held for the students earlier today.
The Explorers finally get to go up against someone other than themselves this Saturday as the Princeton Tigers visit Gola Arena for a closed scrimmage.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/20654587/secret-scrimmage-list-shhhhhh-dont-tell-anyone
The following Friday, the general public will get their first look at the team as they face Canadian National Champions Carleton University. The Ravens already have three games under their belt, defeating Buffalo and Northeastern along with a close four point loss to a strong UNLV team. The Explorers will then open their regular season on November 10th in a special Homecoming appearance against Delaware who was picked to finish second in the CAA by the league's coaches.
After La Salle announced in early April that Devon White would not return to use his final year of eligibility, it was assumed that Coach John Giannini would be signing a big man during the spring signing period. The Explorer coaching staff looked at a number of prospects, including grad student transfer Kore White from Florida Atlantic, juco transfer Keith Coleman, and schoolboy prospects Mike Aaman and Donovon Jack among others. All four chose to go elsewhere so by mid-May, it looked like La Salle would go into the 2012-13 season with a frontline consisting of sophomore big men Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack along with freshmen Rohan Brown and Jermaine Davis.
But then in early June, the Explorers 2012-13 roster was posted on the school's athletic website and to the surprise of many, included on the roster was 6'10" Garvin Hunt, a transfer from the University of Pennsylvania. Since then, there has been much speculation as to how Hunt ended up at La Salle and what his role on the 2012-13 La Salle squad was expected to be.
Check out this excellent article by Jeff Goodman of CBS College Sports as he gets answers to many of the questions about Garvin and his journey that has led him to La Salle for one more chance at college basketball.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/20092925/garvin-hunt-gets-a-second-chance-at-hoops
The Atlantic 10 posted their full men's basketball conference schedule, including TV dates, earlier today. More TV dates are sure to be added as member schools negotiate broadcast rights with local affiliates. Below is La Salle's conference schedule:
- Wednesday January 9th - @ Charlotte
- Saturday January 12th - Richmond
- Wednesday January 16th - Dayton (Fox Sports Ohio)
- Saturday January 19th - @ Xavier (CBSSN-Regional)
- Wednesday January 23rd - Butler
- Saturday January 26th - @ VCU (CBSSN)
- Wednesday January 30th - UMass
- Saturday February 2nd - @ George Washington
- Saturday February 9th - Fordham
- Wednesday February 13th - @ St.Bonaventure
- Saturday February 16th - St. Joe's (NBCSN)
- Thursday February 21st - @ Temple (CBSSN)
- Sunday February 24th - @ Rhode Island (CSN)
- Saturday March 2nd - Duquesne
- Wednesday March 6th - George Washington
- Saturday March 9th - @ St. Louis (NBCSN)
http://www.atlantic10.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/090612aab.html
