Men's Basketball | February 6, 2020

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle and Saint Joseph's will square off in another matchup between two of Philadelphia's Big 5 men's basketball teams on Saturday evening at Tom Gola Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m., with the game airing live nationally on NBC Sports Network.

Fans are encouraged to bring a canned good to the game as part of a food drive sponsored by the Alumni Association, in conjunction with The Basket on La Salle's campus. Special prizes from your favorite Philadelphia professional sports teams will also be handed out throughout the game.

NEWS & NOTES
•For the second consecutive game, the Explorers went down to the wire with an A-10 foe in a 71-69 loss at Duquesne on Feb. 2.
•La Salle trailed by 11 with 4:24 remaining and saw its deficit at 71-62 with 1:52 on the clock before mounting a rally.
•Senior Saul Phiri hit a three and sophomore Ed Croswell converted a three-point play to bring the Explorers within three.
•After a defensive stop with under a minute remaining, junior David Beatty was fouled on a three-point attempt with 1.1 to go.
•Beatty made the first but saw the second go in-and-out, forcing him to miss the third intentionally.
•Duquesne was able to secure the rebound and hang on for the win.
•Beatty led the Explorers in scoring with 16 points, marking the fifth time this season he has led the team in the category.
•Croswell posted his seventh double-double of the year with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and is averaging 8.9 boards in A-10 play.

SCOUTING SAINT JOSEPH'S
•The Hawks, under first-year head coach Billy Lange, have struggled to a 4-18 overall record and are winless in A-10 play (0-9).
•Ryan Daly leads the team in scoring (20.1 ppg), rebounding (7.6 rpg), assists (4.4 apg) and steals (1.0 spg).
•The junior transfer from Delaware scored 35 points in a narrow loss to Saint Louis  on Feb. 1, also adding seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.
•Cameron Brown, a freshman guard, is the only other player outside of Daly to start all 22 games this season and is averaging 9.3 ppg.

ALL-TIME SERIES - SAINT JOSEPH'S
•This will be the 117th all-time meeting between La Salle and Saint Joseph's.
•The Explorers and Hawks have met every season since 1933-34.
•La Salle won the first-ever meeting in 1934, 27-15 at home.
•The Explorers have won each of the last three meetings at Tom Gola Arena by an average margin of 10.6 points.
•La Salle is 3-2 over the last five meetings and the series is an even 9-9 since 2008.
•The Explorers are 37-38 all-time at home against Saint Joe's and 5-2 at Tom Gola Arena.
•The last time the Hawks defeated the Explorers at Gola Arena was in 2016, 69-48.
•The last time the Explorers won four straight home games over the Hawks was from 1952-55, winning six in a row at home.
•La Salle also won five in a row at home vs. Saint Joe's from 1949-51.
•Last year in an 83-69 win over Saint Joe's at Gola Arena, La Salle made 15 three-pointers, including nine combined from Saul Phiri (17 pts, 5-8 3PT) and David Beatty (15 pts, 4-4 3PT).
•In their last meeting of 2019 at Hagan Arena, Saint Joe's forced 21 La Salle turnovers en route to a 72-62 home win despite 17 points from Phiri and 13 from Isiah Deas.

INJURY BUG BITES EXPLORERS
•Freshman Sherif Kenney is just the latest of numerous La Salle players to miss time this season due to injury.
•The 6-4 guard who was named A-10 Rookie of the Week earlier this year has not played in the last two games.
•Sophomore Jared Kimbrough has also been forced out due to injury, as has graduate student Moustapha Diagne.
•Earlier in the year, senior Saul Phiri and freshman Brandon Stone each missed one game due to minor ailments.