Men's Basketball | November 17, 2014

HAMDEN, Conn. – The La Salle men's basketball team hits the road for the first time this season as they travel to Hamden, Connecticut to take on Quinnipiac on Tuesday evening. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m.

La Salle Explorers (1-0) at Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-0)
Tuesday, November 18 | 8:00 PM | Hamden, Conn.

Live Video
Live Audio | Radio: WNTP 990 AM
Live Stats  
Live Tweets @GoExplorers | Text Alerts

Game Notes
La Salle | Quinnipiac

Last Time Out
La Salle grinded out a 57-52 win over Colgate in their first game of the season on Saturday. Senior Jerrell Wright led the way with a double-double after scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Redshirt freshman Amar Stukes added a spark off of the bench with 10 points.  

All-Time Series
La Salle has won the previous two meetings against the Bobcats, with both wins coming at Tom Gola Arena.  This will be the Explorers first trip to TD Bank Sports Center.  La Salle pulled out an 82-71 win in the first-ever matchup between the two schools back in December of 2002. Last season the two teams tipped at 9 a.m. as part of ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon. Despite the early wakeup call, La Salle pulled out a 73-67 behind 17 points from Tyreek Duren.

Scouting the Explorers
La Salle expects to feature one of the conference's top frontcourts, anchored by Atlantic 10 second-team preseason choice Jerrell Wright and third-team preseason selection Steve Zack. Wright led the way Saturday with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, which included six offensive rebounds. Zack added eight points of his own to go with six rebounds.

The Explorers started three guards Saturday afternoon, going with senior D.J. Peterson and a pair of transfers in Jordan Price and Khalid Lewis. Peterson and Price both handled the ball well, combining for  eight assists to just one turnover. Price added in eight points after going 4-5 from the charity stripe.

Redshirt freshman Amar Stukes provided vital minutes off of the bench for the Explorers, going 4-7 from the field for 10 points. Johnnie Shuler went 1-2 from the outside and hit both of his free throws to add five points in just eight minutes of action. La Salle went 9-10 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes of the game to seal out the gritty win.

Scouting the Bobcats
Quinnipiac kicked off their season with an 88-85 double overtime win over Yale as part of the Connecticut 6 Classic on Friday night. Senior guard Zaid Hearst led the team with a game high 34 points. Fellow senior Ousmane Drame added in 13 points to go with a game high 15 rebounds.
 
The Bobcats are coming off a 20-12 season that saw them finish tied for third in their inaugural season in the MAAC with a conference record of 14-6. They competed in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament but were eliminated in the first round by instate rival Yale, 69-68. The Bobcats led the entire country with 45.7 rebounds per game, 16.7 offensive rebounds per game, 28.7 defensive rebounds per game, and a plus 11.8 rebounding margin in 2013-14.
 
Both Hearst and Drame were named MAAC Preseason All-Conference earlier this month. Drame led the MAAC and was eighth in the nation by averaging 6.7 defensive rebounds per game. The 6-9 forward also averaged over two blocks a game and had 15 double-doubles last year on his way to a second team All-MAAC season. Hearst provides much of the offense for the Bobcats as he finished in the top ten in the MAAC in scoring and rebounding last season.  The Bethesda, Md. native averaged 15.5 points per game while shooting 44 percent from the field and 41 percent from behind the arc.
 
Up Next
The Explorers return home to take on the Saint Peter's Peacocks on Saturday, November 22 at 12:30 p.m.