Men's Basketball | December 11, 2020

PHILADELPHIA - Following their first victory of the season, the La Salle Explorers will make the short trip across Philadelphia to take on head coach Ashley Howard's alma mater, Drexel, Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m., with the game airing live locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The contest will also be available for out-of-town viewers on FloHoops (subscription required). The Voice of the Explorers Kale Beers will provide an audio broadcast of the game via Stretch Internet and the TuneIn Radio App.

NEWS & NOTES
•Four Explorers scored in double figures as La Salle picked up its first win of the season in its home opener on Tuesday, 80-62, over Lincoln (Pa.) at Tom Gola Arena.
•The Explorers led by as many as 24 points and gained control from the early going with a balanced attack led by redshirt sophomore Jack Clark, who had a near doubledouble with 15 points and nine rebounds.
•With the score 29-24, the Explorers finally got breathing room with a pivotal run of 14 consecutive points to close the half with a 43-24 lead, with redshirt senior Scott Spencer netting the final eight points of the period.
•Lincoln cut the margin to nine midway through the second half, but La Salle utilized a 19-5 run over a five minute span to put the game out of reach.
•Spencer scored a season-best 13 points and hit three of La Salle's 11 three-pointers, while redshirt junior Clifton Moore had career highs in points (10) and blocks (4).
•La Salle's freshmen also left their mark, as Jhamir Brickus dished out a season-best eight assists to go with two steals, Anwar Gill tallied 10 points, five rebounds and two steals, and Tegra Izay notched six points and five boards in his collegiate debut.
•The Explorers had season highs in points (80), assists (20) and rebounds (41) while limiting the Lions, who had averaged 105 points per game, to just 36.5 percent shooting.

SCOUTING DREXEL
•The Dragons enter the matchup on a three-game winning streak and a 3-1 record.
•After opening the year with an 83-74 road loss at Pittsburgh, Drexel swept Quinnipiac in back-to-back games and defeated Coppin State at home on Sunday, 69-54.
•In that win, the Dragons had five players score in double figures led by Camren Wynter's 15 points, six assists and three steals.
•Wynter is the top scoring option at 19.8 points per game and also leads the Dragons with 5.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
•T.J Bickerstaff (12.5 ppg), James Butler (11.8) and Zach Walton (11.3) all average double-figure points, and Butler leads the team in rebounding with 9.3 per contest.

HOWARD RETURNS TO OLD STOMPING GROUNDS
•Head Coach Ashley Howard will return to his alma mater, Drexel, for the third time since taking over the La Salle program.
•Howard is 1-1 against his former team, coming up just short in a high-scoring 89-84 defeat in 2018 and grabbing a 71-63 victory at Drexel last season.
•A 2004 Drexel graduate with a bachelor's degree in communications, Howard began his coaching career as a student assistant coach at his alma mater in 2002 after injury cut short his playing career for the Dragons.
•He later spent four seasons as an assistant coach to James "Bruiser" Flint at Drexel and was part of a staff that led the Dragons to consecutive 20-win seasons, including a school record 29 victories in 2011-12.

CLIFF STANDS TALL
•Redshirt junior Clifton Moore has quickly worked his way into the starting lineup in his first season at La Salle behind some stellar defense.
•The 6-10 big man sat out last season after transferring from Indiana.
•Moore has immediately made an impact on the defensive end as he ranks 20th in the nation with 20 blocked shots.
•He leads the Atlantic 10 Conference with 2.8 blocked shots per game and his 12.9 block percentage is 16th best in the country.
•Moore scored in double figures for the first time in the win over Lincoln (Pa.) and piled up a career-high four blocks to go with five rebounds.
•He has blocked at least two shots in each of La Salle's four games this season.