Men's Basketball | January 11, 2017
KINGSTON, R.I. - La Salle men's basketball heads north for an Atlantic 10 matchup with Rhode Island on Thursday, Jan. 12. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network beginning at 7:00 p.m. Carter Blackburn (play-by-play) and former Xavier, Virginia and Providence head coach Pete Gillen will have the call. An audio broadcast is also available online with the Voice of the Explorers
Kale Beers bringing you all the action via the TuneIn Radio App or Stretch Internet.
NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers have won two straight league games, with the last coming against Duquesne (88-81) on Saturday at Gola Arena.
•Five players reached double figures in the scoring column for La Salle, including 18-point efforts from senior
Jordan Price and junior
B.J. Johnson.
•Free-throw shooting proved to be an important part of the game, as the Explorers went an incredible 24-of-25 from the charity stripe (96.0%).
•The game was the first in which La Salle has shot 90% or better from the free throw line with at least 20 attempts since shooting 18-for-20 (90.0%) against Penn on Jan. 20, 2010.
•La Salle is a perfect 8-0 this season when attempting more free throws than its opponent, and did so again against Duquesne (25-8).
•In addition to Johnson and Price, sophomore
Pookie Powell scored in double figures for the fourth straight game with 16 points, and added five assists.
•Freshman
Isiah Deas was instant offense off the bench, scoring 11 points in 11 minutes of action including a 3-for-5 performance from three-point range.
•Junior
Demetrius Henry had his first double-double as an Explorer (2nd career) with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
•La Salle committed just 11 fouls against Duquesne, their fewest of the season, and have just 24 fouls over its last two games.
SCOUTING RHODE ISLAND
•The Rams enter the contest coming off a tough road loss to Dayton on Jan. 6.
•Rhode Island and La Salle are in a tie for fourth place in the A10 standings at 2-1.
•The top scoring defense in the league, Rhody is allowing 64.2 points per game through its 14 games and just 60.3 ppg against A10 foes.
•E.C. Matthews leads the team in scoring at 15.1 points per game while Hassan Martin has returned from injury to average 14.6 points and a team-high 7.5 boards per contest.
•Martin also has 36 blocked shots (3.6/game) to lead the A10.
FREE AS A BIRD
•The Explorers have been impressive from the free-throw line all season and continued that trend on Jan. 7 against Duquesne.
•La Salle missed just one free throw in 25 attempts, good for a 96.0 percentage for the game.
•The game was just the fifth this season in NCAA Division I basketball in which a team had attempted 25 or more free throws and shot 95% or better.
•On the year, the Explorers are shooting 76.3 percent from the line to rank 18th in the nation.
SECOND HALF SURGES
•The Explorers have used a pair of quality second-half performances to pull away from their last two opponents.
•La Salle broke open a six-point game with 19:18 remaining against Saint Louis by going on a 10-0 run that spanned 2:09 in a 75-54 victory.
•After heading to the locker room tied with Duquesne on Jan. 7, the Explorers shot 6-of-10 from three-point range and went a perfect 20-for-20 from the free-throw line to earn an 88-81 win.
•After shooting a combined 6-for-29 (20.7%) from three-point range in the first half of those games, La Salle shot 13-for-23 in the second halves (56.5%).
