Men's Basketball | February 25, 2022

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team returns home to Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center after a four-game road trip, honoring four seniors prior to tipping off with Dayton on Saturday afternoon.
 
Jack Clark, Kyle Thompson, Clifton Moore and Andrew Lafond will be honored prior to the game, the four of them earning their degrees later in the spring. The Explorers will also recognize two senior managers before the matchup with Dayton.
 
Kale Beers and Richard Prendergast will be on call for the Explorers-Flyers showdown inside Gola. Fans can tune in to the 2 p.m. tip on ESPN+, or can hear an audio broadcast on the GoExplorers website.
 
NEWS & NOTES

• The Explorers meet the Flyers for the first time in the 2021-22 season, having played once a season over the course of the last five seasons.
• Last season, La Salle got the better of the Flyers on their home court, Clifton Moore knocking down a game-winner to upset then reigning A-10 champs.
• The Explorers return home to face Dayton after a 12 day road trip saw the Explorers face four different opponents. 0-4 in that span, La Salle looks for comfort in Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center, closing out the regular season with two games at home in the final three games of the season.
• Falling into an early deficit, the Explorers climbed back from a 14-point Fordham lead in the latter stages of the opening half to narrow the margin to just one point in the second half. The hosts pushed their advantage back to double digits, La Salle unable to close the gap again in the 60-54 defeat.
• For the first time in Atlantic 10 play, Clifton Moore was held under 10 points in a game, breaking his 14-game streak in double-digits. Moore finished with nine points in the defeat to Fordham.
• Christian Ray had his strongest performance in conference play, leading the Explorers in both scoring (13) and rebounding (7), knocking down a career-high three three-pointers.

 
SCOUTING DAYTON

• Dayton enters the matchup one game behind league-leaders Davidson, sitting at 20-8 on the season and 12-3 in conference play.
• The Flyers entered the season as the youngest team in the country, 11 of the 15 players on the roster either true or redshirt freshman. Despite the youth, Dayton has recorded some impressive results in their non-conference campaign - wins over Miami, Kansas, Belmont and Virginia Tech building a solid résumé.
• The Flyers rank as one of the best in the nation defensively, holding opponents to just 60.2 points per game to rank 11th in the nation, topping the Atlantic 10. Dayton also holds the 20th best rebounding margin, outrebounding opponents by nearly seven boards per game.
• Malachi Smith enters as one of many Flyers looking to plant themselves onto the A-10 All-Rookie Team, ranking 25th in the country in assists per game (5.3) and 48th in assist-turnover ratio (2.31).
• DaRon Holmes III leads Dayton in scoring, averaging a clip of 11.5 points per game as one of five Flyers to average at least 7.0 points per game. Toumani Camara adds 11.0 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds, while Smith (9.2), Kobe Elvis (9.0) and Koby Brea (7.3) round out the Dayton offense.

 
MISSING HOME

• The Explorers finally return to Tom Gola Arena after a four-game road trip saw them travel to the Midwest and throughout the Northeast.
• Through the four games, the Explorers struggled on offense, scoring just 63.8 points per game. La Salle also suffered a -13.0 scoring margin, unable to grab a win on the road.
• The Explorers shot just over 40% in that span and gave up 48.2% attempts from the field on the defensive end. Entering the stretch as one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, La Salle was held to just 28.8 rebounds per game and lost the battle on the glass by an average of -8.0 rebounds per game.
• Jack Clark (15.8) and Clifton Moore (15.5) paced the offense in scoring, the only two Explorers to average 10+ over the stretch.

 
HOMECOMING FOR KHALIL

• Making his way back to the Bronx for the first time since his high school days where he played at Our Savior Lutheran his senior year, Khalil Brantley had an entourage awaiting him at the Fordham game.
• The freshman posted 12 points on 50% from the field in front of his home crowd, one of two Explorers to finish in double digits. Brantley also registered three rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes of action.

 
POSTSEASON SCENARIOS

• With three games remaining in the regular season, postseason rankings are becoming clearer.
• If the Explorers win out, the best finish they could expect would be an 11th seed at the A-10 tournament, unable to potentially surpass UMass due to head-to-head advantage.
• La Salle is projected at the 13th seed, a pivotal game with Saint Joseph's coming up to decide who they might see in the first round of the tournament.
• Rhode Island and St. Joe's both sit ahead of the Explorers with four wins, while Duquesne is one game back of La Salle with the two meeting on the final day of the regular season in Pittsburgh.

 
BLOCK PARTY

• Clifton Moore has had an exceptional 2021-22, by far proving to be the best campaign of his career. The redshirt-senior leads the team with 66 blocks, no one else tallying in double-digits.
• Moore's 66 blocks is just six off of what opponents have recorded against the Explorers, only blocking 72 shots on the season.
• Moore took sole possession of fourth place in La Salle single-season history, joining elite company. His three blocks against Fordham eclipsed Lionel Simmon's 1989-90 season. If he continues his pace of 2.6 blocks per game, Moore will finish the season near the top of the leaderboard, projected to finish with 73 blocks by the end of the regular season. The 73 blocks would be four shy of the all-time record set by Lionel Simmons in 1987-88.
• Clifton has also entered into the top 10 in career blocks, recording 99 blocks over his two years as an Explorer.

 
BLOCKED SHOTS - SEASON
No.        Name    YEARS
77           Lionel Simmons 1987-88
73           Aaric Murray      2010-11
70           Aaric Murray      2009-10
66           Clifton Moore    2021-22
65           Lionel Simmons 1989-90
61           Lionel Simmons 1988-89
 
SHY AT THE STRIPE

• The Explorers have often been on the wrong side of the free throw attempt margins, opponents shooting 94 more attempts over the season than La Salle.
• La Salle ranks towards the bottom in the country in free throw rate (free throws per 100 field goals), 305th in the country with just 25.7 attempts for every 100 field goal attempts taken.

 
NIGHT AND DAY, HOME AND AWAY

• A tale of two teams, the Explorers have seen different results in both day and night games, and home and away games.
• At home, the Explorers are 6-8, shooting the ball at a 42.9% clip, 34.3% from deep while holding opponents to 42.4% from the field and 35.7% from three.
• Conversely, on the road La Salle sees its average dip to 39.5% and 29.5%, opponents hitting at a rate of 46.5% and 39.0%.
• The Explorers are 6-6 in games played during the day, 1-12 in games played at night.

 
DOUBLE 500

• With two minutes left on the clock and the Explorers trailing by four to UMass at home, Jack Clark stepped to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws. Not only did it cut the deficit to two (later wiping away the deficit with a jumper), but it also gave the redshirt junior his 500th career point in his 50th career game.
• With 9:41 left in the second half at Fordham, Clifton Moore knocked down 1-2 free throws, securing his 500th career point.

 
Jack Clark            620
Clifton Moore    502
Christian Ray      438
Jhamir Brickus    430
 
MORE OF MOORE

• Clifton Moore has been a proven paint protector on the season, ranking 19th in the nation in blocks with 2.64 blocks per game.
• Moore's 14 game streak of scoring 10 or more points ended where it started, the streak beginning in the home game against Fordham and ending with a road game against the Rams, finishing with nine points on Wednesday.

 
REBOUNDING RAY

• After 24 games, Christian Ray averages 7.0 rebounds per game to rank first on the team - also leading the team in rebounding in the 2020-21 season. The junior has posted four games with double-digit rebounds.
• The junior scored a career-high three three-pointers against Fordham in the Bronx, falling one point short of a season-high with 13 points and seven rebounds to lead the Explorers in both categories.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Dayton holds a 30-18 series record over La Salle in the matchup that dates back to 1952.
• Meeting just once in the 2020-21 season, the Explorers made it a game to remember. Clifton Moore knocked down a game-winner on the final possession to defeat the defending A-10 champs.
• Over the last 12 meetings, the home team is 10-2 when protecting home court. The two losses have come in the last two meetings, each team stealing a road game in the prior two seasons.
• La Salle is 1-2 against the Flyers against Coach Howard.