Men's Basketball | January 22, 2021

RICHMOND, Va. - The Explorers will hit the road on Saturday in search of their second straight win with a trip to Richmond to take on the Spiders for a nationally-televised Atlantic 10 matchup. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m., with all of the action airing live on NBC Sports Network.

NEWS & NOTES
•Junior Jared Kimbrough busted through with a career-high 24 points to lead La Salle past Philadelphia Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's on Monday, 90-83, at Tom Gola Arena.
•The Explorers' 90 points were a season high, while the squad shot 57.1 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from three-point territory.
•La Salle trailed by 10 midway through the first half but later responded with a 19-0 run over the final minutes of the first half and the start of the second, a spurt that spanned 5:53 and gave La Salle a 60-42 advantage.
•The Explorers led by as many as 21 points before the Hawks made a late comeback, using a 15-2 run to pull within five, but it was too late as La Salle held on for the win.
•Kimbrough was a near-perfect 12-for-13 shooting from the floor, and the only miss came on the first three-point attempt of his career. He also matched a season high with six rebounds.
•Freshman Anwar Gill also matched his career best with 15 points off the bench, while sophomore Christian Ray dished out a career-high five assists.
•Fellow freshman Jhamir Brickus chipped in 10 points and three steals while making SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays with a behind-the-back pass to Kimbrough for an and-one layup at the 17:50 mark of the second half.
•The Explorers also set a season best as a team with 14 steals, scoring 23 points off 18 Saint Joseph's turnovers.

SCOUTING RICHMOND
•The Spiders return to action after a two-week layoff due to COVID-19 protocols. •Richmond enters the weekend at 9-3 overall, 3-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 3-2 at home.
•Prior to the layoff, the Spiders had won two in a row over Rhode Island (80-73) and at George Mason (77-57).
•The last time out in the win over the Patriots, four Spiders scored in double figures led by Grant Golden's 18-point, 10-rebound double-double.
•Blake Francis leads the team with 16.1 points per game, while Golden (14.8 ppg), Jacob Gilyard (12.8), Tyler Burton (12.6) and Nathan Cayo (11.6) all average double-digit points.

KIMBROUGH COMING ON STRONG
•Junior Jared Kimbrough was unstoppable in Monday's win over Saint Joseph's, putting forth the best game of his career.
•The 6-8 big man demolished his career high with 24 points and was nearly perfect from the floor, shooting 12-for-13 with the only miss coming on his only three-point attempt of the season.
•The Neptune, N.J. native also matched his season best with six rebounds in the win.
•Kimbrough has come on strong as of late, averaging 13.0 points on 82.6 percent shooting over his last three games.

GAMER GILL
•Freshman Anwar Gill has carved out a significant role in the Explorers' rotation, scoring in double figures five times and averaging 7.9 points as a rookie this season.
•Gill matched his career high with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting while going 3-for-3 from the charity stripe in Monday's win over Saint Joseph's.
•In an 80-62 win over Lincoln, the 6-4 guard broke on to the scene with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in just his second game.
•The next game, a win at Drexel, the Washington, D.C. native posted a game-high 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting along with eight rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
•He also had 12 points and six rebounds in a Big Ten road test against Maryland, and led the Explorers with 14 points on a season-best 7-of-14 shooting effort to go with five rebounds and two steals at UMass.

SPENCER FINDING HIS RANGE
•Redshirt senior Scott Spencer has shown off an effective touch from beyond the three-point line this season.
•The 6-6 guard is shooting 56.0 percent from long range over the last five games.
•Over those five games, he has made 2+ three-pointers four times and has knocked down 14 triples on 25 attempts. •Spencer ranks 10th in the Atlantic 10 Conference in three-point shooting, hitting at a 41.3 percent clip.