Men's Basketball | December 1, 2016
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's basketball team goes for its third consecutive victory on Saturday afternoon as it hosts Bucknell at Gola Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m., with all of the action available free of charge on GoExplorers.TV. The game will be preceded in the morning by a memorial service for former Explorer Michael Brooks at the Founders' Hall School of Business Auditorium. The service will begin at 11:00 a.m. and open to the public. A short ceremony will be held at halftime of the game to honor Brooks, a former All-American and National Player of the Year at La Salle who passed away this past August.
NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers downed another Patriot League opponent, Lehigh, in its previous affair on Wednesday evening, 89-81.
•Senior
Jordan Price scored 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting and is 16-for-27 over his last two contests (23.0 ppg, 59.3 percent).
•Redshirt junior
B.J. Johnson added 22 points on 8-of-14 from the floor while senior
Cleon Roberts chipped in with 15.
•La Salle used a 9-0 run early in the second half to build a double-digit lead that it held on to for the remainder of the game.
•The Explorers scored 89 points for the second straight game, marking the first time the team has scored 85 or more points in back-to-back games since Dec. 20-22, 2012 (88 vs. Iona, 100 vs. Sacred Heart).
•Over the last two contests, La Salle has hit 24 three-pointers and is shooting 41.1 percent from deep to rank 23rd nationally.
•The duo of redshirt juniors
Tony Washington and
Demetrius Henry scored a combined 15 points and limited two-time Patriot League Player of the Year Tim Kempton to 12, less than half his season average (24.4 ppg entering game).
•Through five games, La Salle is averaging 84.0 points per game to rank in the top 30 nationally (T-30th with North Dakota).
SCOUTING BUCKNELL
•With a win over Richmond on Wednesday, Bucknell improved to 6-2 on the season.
•The Bison also boasts a win over Southeastern Conference member Vanderbilt, who earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament last year.
•The frontcourt tandem of Zach Thomas and Nana Foulland lead the way for Bucknell, combining to average 32.8 points and 14.0 rebounds per game.
•Foulland was a Second Team All-Patriot League choice last year and was a preseason All-Patriot pick this year.
•Bucknell won its fifth regular-season Patriot League title in the last six seasons in 2015-16 before suffering an upset in the quarterfinals of the league tournament.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN
•The Explorers have used the three-point weapon to their advantage in the early going of 2016-17.
•La Salle has connected on 51 three-pointers through five games, good for a 10.2/game average that ranks 18th in the country.
•Against Drexel on Nov. 27, La Salle went 7-for-11 from deep in the first half, then continued its hot shooting with a 6-for-10 performance in the second.
•The 13 three-point field goals were the most in a single game by the Explorers since hitting 13 against Saint Joseph's on Feb. 13, 2016.
•The 61.9 percent shooting was the highest percentage for the team in a game with 10 or more makes since making 10 of 16 attempts (62.5%) in a 76-64 win over Saint Joseph's on Feb. 16, 2013.
A FAMILY CONNECTION
•An interesting connection exists between La Salle University and Bucknell assistant coach Joe Meehan.
•Joe's grandfather, also named Joe, was a player on La Salle's very first basketball team in 1931 and was a team captain during his career with the Explorers
•The youngest Joe Meehan played high school ball at St. Joe's Prep under former La Salle head coach Speedy Morris.
•Meehan, who is in his second season as an assistant at Bucknell, played four years at Lebanon Valley and was a Division III All-American.
