Men's Basketball | December 9, 2016
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University men's basketball team will play its first game outside of Philadelphia this season on Saturday afternoon as it takes a trip to the Sunshine State to take on Georgetown in the Hoophall Miami Invitational at 2:00 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2, and is the second half of a doubleheader at American Airlines Arena, as another Big 5 team, Temple, takes on DePaul in the first half of the twinbill at 11:30 a.m.
NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers have played four games at Tom Gola Arena, one at the Palestra, then battled city rivals Temple and Drexel on the road through the first seven games of the year.
•December 10th is the latest that a La Salle team has had its first regular-season game outside the state of Pennsylvania since the 1992-93 season (Dec. 28).
•In its most recent outing, La Salle battled No. 1 Villanova at the famed Palestra and gave the Wildcats a scare before falling, 89-79.
•The Explorers were within four points at 79-75 with 1:04 remaining, before the Wildcats made all six of its free throws and converted two breakaways to seal the win.
•Redshirt sophomore
Pookie Powell scored a career-high 27 points, including 20 in the second half, to have the Explorers within 79-75 with 1:04 remaining in the second half.
•The backcourt duo of
Amar Stukes and
Jordan Price did a nice job distributing the ball against Villanova, combining for 12 assists against just three turnovers.
•As a team, the Explorers have a 1.41 assist/turnover ratio through seven games to rank 28th in the nation in the category.
SCOUTING GEORGETOWN
•The Hoyas enter the game in Florida riding a three-game winning streak and at 5-4 overall.
•Georgetown has defeated Howard, Coppin State and Elon since Nov. 27, with all three games being held at the Verizon Center.
•Graduate student Rodney Pryor, who played two seasons at Robert Morris before transferring to Georgetown for his last year of eligibility, leads the team in scoring at 20.8 points per game.
•LJ Peak is scoring 15.6 ppg while leading the team in assists (30) and steals (14).
POOKIE SCORES CAREER HIGH vs. 'NOVA
•Redshirt sophomore
Pookie Powell put together his best scoring performance of the season against No. 1 Villanova on Tuesday.
•Powell shot 10-of-17 from the field, including 7-for-12 in the second half en route to 27 points.
•His step-back three with 2:22 remaining cut a 10-point deficit to seven and his layup later in the half pulled the Explorers to within 79-75.
•Powell has been extremely efficient with the basketball all season and has a 4.2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio to rank 10th nationally.
JOHNSON NAMED A10 CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Redshirt junior
B.J. Johnson was named the Atlantic 10's Co-Player of the Week with St. Bonaventure guard Jaylen Adams, it was announced on Monday.
•The award, the first for an Explorer since 2/16/15, comes on the basis of Johnson's performances in La Salle wins over Lehigh and Bucknell.
•For the week, Johnson shot 57.1 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from three-point range and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line.
