Men's Basketball | December 18, 2020

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle Explorers will look to bounce back at home Saturday when they welcome the Delaware Blue Hens to Tom Gola Arena for a nationally televised contest on NBC Sports Network. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., with Scott Knapp and Ron Thompson on the call. An audio broadcast will be streamed live on Stretch Internet Radio and the TuneIn Radio App.

NEWS & NOTES
•In Wednesday's Atlantic 10 Conference opener against Massachusetts, La Salle held a 45-44 lead early in the second half, but the Minutemen streaked out to runs of 20-5 and 15-5 down the stretch to put the Explorers away.
•Senior David Beatty, who has increased his scoring output in each of his six games, led the Explorers with a season-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor.
•The Explorers led by six with 4:06 to go in the first half before the Minutemen claimed a 36-35 lead at halftime.
•In the second half, Beatty converted an and-one layup to give La Salle a one-point lead with 16:33 remaining, but it was all UMass from that point as reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Tre Mitchell scored 25 of his 37 points in the second frame.
•The Minutemen held a large advantage at the charity stripe, making 16-of-23 free throws compared to 4-of-10 for the Explorers.
•Redshirt sophomore Jack Clark and freshman Anwar Gill each scored nine points apiece for La Salle. Redshirt senior Scott Spencer added eight points, while sophomore Christian Ray posted seven points and eight rebounds.
•The setback snapped a two-game win streak for the Explorers after defeating Lincoln (Pa.), 80-62, and Drexel, 58-48, in the two games prior.

SCOUTING DELAWARE
•The Blue Hens enter the contest at 2-1 overall and 0-1 on the road.
•Each of Delaware's two wins have come by a difference of three points (79-76 vs. Division II Salem, 68-65 vs. George Washington).
•In their lone road trip to date, the Blue Hens fell at UMBC, 76-61.
•Last Friday, four Blue Hens scored in double figures as Delaware snuck past A-10 member George Washington, 68-65, led by Dylan Painter's 14-point, 12-rebound double-double.
•Painter is a transfer from Villanova, and was previously coached by La Salle head coach Ashley Howard while they were both members of the Wildcat program from 2016-18.
•Kevin Anderson leads the team with 17.3 points per game, while Ryan Allen (13.0 ppg), Ebby Asamoah (12.0 ppg) and Painter (9.7 ppg, 10 rpg) add to the attack. 

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. DELAWARE (LA SALLE LEADS 21-4)
•This will be the 26th all-time meeting between the La Salle Explorers and the Delaware Blue Hens.
•La Salle is 7-1 all-time at home vs. Delaware and 3-1 at Tom Gola Arena.
•The two teams first met back in 1931, a low-scoring 33-25 Delaware win.
•Following that first meeting, La Salle went on to win the next 18 games in the series, including an 85-44 victory during its 1951-52 NIT Championship season.
•The two teams met 10 times from 1975-1983 when they were both members of the ECC.
•Over the last six meetings, the series has been split evenly, 3-3.
•The Explorers have won each of the last two meetings, both held at Tom Gola Arena.
•In their last meeting during the 2016-17 season, La Salle held Delaware to just 23.5 percent shooting from three-point territory and overcame a 27-26 halftime deficit to earn the 74-68 home win.

BEATTY STEADILY CLIMBING
•Senior David Beatty has shown improvements on the offensive end game-over-game as the season has progressed early on.
•In fact, Beatty has improved his scoring output in each of the first six games of the season and has scored in double figures in each of his last two contests.
•In last weekend's win at Drexel, Beatty went 4-for-6 from the field with 11 points.
•On Wednesday, he put forth his best effort of the season with 17 points over a season-high 31 minutes while hitting 7-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-5 from downtown.
•Over La Salle's last three games, in which they went 2-1, Beatty is averaging 12.3 points per game on an efficient 51.9 percent shooting from the floor while also hitting 46.2 percent of his three-point attempts.
•Last season's leading scorer at 10.7 points per game, Beatty is up to 9.2 points per contest this season and climbing.