Men's Basketball | March 10, 2015

A-10 Championship Central | A-10 Tournament Bracket  | La Salle Postseason Central

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The La Salle men's basketball team enters the 2015 Atlantic 10 Tournament on a high note after grabbing an upset win over Dayton to close out the regular season. The Explorers enter the tournament as the #9 seed and will face off against the #8 seed Massachusetts Minutemen in the second round on Thursday. Tip is slated for noon on NBCSN.

La Salle Explorers (16-15, 8-10 A-10) vs. Massachusetts Minutemen (17-14, 10-8 A-10)
Thursday, March 12, 2014 | 12:00 PM | Barclays Center

TV: NBCSN (Steve Schlanger, Dalen Cuff) | Live Video (FREE) 
Radio: WNTP 990 AM | Live Audio (FREE)
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Game Notes
La Salle | UMass

Last Time Out
The Explorers closed out the regular season on a high-note on Saturday, grabbing a 55-53 win over Dayton on senior day. The Explorers led for the first 26:06 until Dayton tied the game at 28-28 on a pair of Jordan Sibert free throws with 13:54 left in the game. The Flyers eventually led by as many as four points before La Salle regained the lead at 37-34 with 9:54 to go after seven unanswered points.
 
The game was tied at 37-37 and 39-39 before another seven-point run gave the Explorers a 46-39 lead with 3:44 to go. A dunk from Jerrell Wright sparked the run, which led to a three from Jordan Price and jumper from D.J. Peterson while La Salle held Dayton scoreless for 3:36.
 
Wright recorded an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double in his final game at Tom Gola Arena while Price finished with a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds. Wright also moved into third place in school history having played in 130 games in his career. Senior Steve Zack had six points and a season-high 14 rebounds while Peterson also shined in his final game at Tom Gola Arena, distributing a game-high four assists to go with four points.
 
The Explorers held the Flyers to just 19 first half points, matching the lowest output of any half from Dayton this season. The win was the 76th for the senior class, representing the most victories of any single class since 1993. 

Explorer Notes
• La Salle will open the A-10 Tournament on Thursday at noon vs. #8 Massachusetts at the Barclays Center. The winner will advance to play #1 Davidson on Friday at noon in the quarterfinals. This marks the second straight year the Explorers will play in the #8/9 game at noon on Thursday.
• In four career A-10 games, Jerrell Wright has averaged 15.5 ppg. and 6.3 rpg. including a career-high 26 points and nine rebounds vs. St. Bonaventure last year.
• Sophomore Jordan Price has 537 points this season becoming the 23rd Explorer to reach the 500-point milestone. The last sophomore to reach 500 points in a season was Steven Smith in 2003-04 (512, 17.1 ppg.).
• Jerrell Wright recently moved into seventh all-time in rebounds at La Salle with 832. Ken Durrett is sixth with 850. Steve Zack has 815 and is in 10th. Of the other top 15 rebounders in program history, none have come from the same class.
• Jerrell Wright is one of seven Explorers to score 1,400 points and grab 800 rebounds in a career.
• Steve Zack stands into second place on the all-time blocked shots list with 165.  Lionel Simmons is the all-time leader with 248.
• Senior Jerrell Wright has appeared in 130 games in his career, which is in third in school history. Tyreek Duren is first with 132 followed by Lionel Simmons (131). DJ Peterson is fifth with 127.
• Jordan Price has made 25 three's in his last eight games (3.1 per game). He's made at least four in five of those contests.
• La Salle has allowed just 55.7 points in last three. 
• Head coach Dr. John Giannini has led La Salle to four Atlantic 10 Tournament wins, the most of any coach in program history.  

Season Series Against Massachusetts
The Explorers dropped the season series to the Minutemen. In La Salle's first home conference game of the season, the Explorers fell 71-65 to the Minutemen.  A month later, Massachusetts bested La Salle with a 66-59 victory in Amherst.

La Salle battled back from a 10point deficit in the first meeting but it wasn't enough to top the Minutemen. Redshirt sophomore Cleon Roberts led the four Explorers in double figures for the day with 17 points. The second game of the series saw Massachusetts build a seven-point lead in the first half and never look back. Jordan Price scored 23 of his 30 points in the second half to help La Salle make it a four-point game multiple times in the second half but they couldn't quite complete the comeback.
 
Despite a balanced attack against the Minutemen in January, the Explorers struggled the second time around. In the first game, Roberts, Steve Zack, Amar Stukes, and Jordan Price all finished in double digits while only Jordan Price recorded double figures game two. Price led all Explorers with an average of 21 points between the two games. Steve Zack also averaged double digit points with an average of 11 per contest. Jerrell Wright grabbed 20 rebounds between the two contests while Zack pulled down 18 between the two contests.
 
The Minutemen capitalized on strong outside shooting in both contests against the Explorers. Massachusetts shot 48% (12-25) from behind the arc against the Explorers this season despite La Salle limiting conference opponents to a 31.1 shooting percentage this season. Maxie Esho notched a double-double against La Salle in the first meeting with 12 rebounds and a game-high 19 points while shooting 8-for-10 from the field. In the second matchup, Donte Clark led the charge for the Minutemen going for 23 points thanks to shooting 7-11 from the field and 5-7 from behind the arc.
 
Previous A-10 Tournament Matchups – Massachusetts
La Salle has faced off against Massachusetts twice in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The two programs have split the meetings, with the Minutemen grabbing a 64-49 win in 1997 while La Salle took a 70-64 overtime win in 2005. The 1997 La Salle team featured freshman Donnie Carr who went on to earn two All-Atlantic 10 team spots and become the fifth all-time scorer in program history (2,067 points).
 
Quarterfinal Matchup – Davidson
If the Explorers defeat Massachusetts in the second round, they will face Davidson for a Quarterfinal matchup on Friday at noon.
 
La Salle came up just short in their only matchup against Davidson this season, falling 77-69 on February 14. La Salle took a 65-64 lead on a Cleon Roberts jumper with 3:45 left in the game before the Wildcats closed the game on a 13-4 run to steal the victory. Davidson's Brian Sullivan led all scorers with 28 points, including 17 after the break. Four Explorers scored in double figures, led by Jordan Price's 22 points. The game was tightly contested throughout, and saw 11 total lead changes. The Explorers trailed by eight points several times in the first half before executing a 10-0 run that spanned halftime to take the lead.
 
The Wildcats cashed in on ten three-pointers during the contest, which is the most allowed by the Explorers in a single game this season. The win was the third of what is now a nine-game win streak that helped the conference newcomers clinch the number one seed in the tournament and the coveted double bye.
 
Previous A-10 Tournament Matchups – Davidson
This is Davidson's first year in the Atlantic 10 and the only previous meeting between the two programs was a 77-69 win for Davidson in Tom Gola Arena earlier this season.