PHILADELPHIA — Khalil Brantley poured in a career-high 22 points to lead the La Salle head men's basketball team to a 77-69 victory over Wagner on Saturday afternoon during Homecoming at Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center.
The Explorers' win marked Fran Dunphy's first victory as La Salle's head coach and it put them at 1-1 on the young season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Explorers jumped out to a 19-8 lead through almost the first 10 minutes of the game. Josh Nickelberry and Hassan Drame scored five points apiece during that stretch.
- The Explorers closed the half with a 39-26 lead, with Fousseyni Drame putting an exclamation point on the half with a dunk off a pick and roll pass from Brantley.
- In the second half, La Salle's lead went down to five in the early minutes, but the Explorers managed to stop Wagner's run after Fousseyni Drame converted a three-point play on a layup to get the lead back up to eight before the first media timeout.
- Four minutes later, the Explorers pushed their lead to 51-40 after Anwar Gill stole a pass following a missed free throw attempt and knocked down a three-pointer from the right corner.
- From there, the Explorers held off Wagner, thanks to Nickelberry and Brantley. In the final 12 minutes, Nickelberry scored 13 points and Brantley had 12 points
GAME NOTES
- Brantley's 22 points surpassed his previous high of 18, which he had last season against St. Bonaventure. The sophomore also shot a career-best 12-for-15 from the free-throw line.
- Nickelberry had another strong scoring performance, netting 20 points. The senior guard now has six career 20-point games and has scored in double figures in 16 career contests.
- Nickelberry has produced the best two-game span of his Explorer career, Nickelberry has dropped 42 combined points after having 22 against Villanova last Monday.
- The Explorers won their third straight Homecoming game. The Explorers defeated UAlbany, 67-64, in last year's game and topped Iona, 70-64, in overtime in 2019.
- Fran Dunphy is now the first Big 5 coach to win a game with three Big Five teams (won 310 games with Penn and 270 with Temple). Dunphy now has a 581-326 career record.
UP NEXT
- The Explorers will host Queens (N.C.) in the first game of the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic on Tuesday night at Tom Gola Arena. Tip-off for that game is at 7 p.m.
- After that, La Salle will head to Montego Bay, Jamaica to play in the final two games of the event next Friday and Sunday.
