Men's Basketball | March 1, 2022

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team concludes its home campaign on Wednesday evening, hosting Saint Joseph's in an Atlantic 10 and Philadelphia Big Five matchup inside Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center.
 
La Salle enters the game with a win over the Hawks on the season already, looking to double its tally. The Explorers are 1-2 in Big 5 action this season, St. Joe's entering the matchup 2-1. With a win, the Explorers would leap frog the Hawks in the Atlantic 10 standings.
 
Kale Beers and legendary Philadelphia Big 5 coach and newly inducted La Salle Hall of Athlete member Fran Dunphy will be on the ESPN+ broadcast, with an audio version available on GoExplorers for the 7 p.m. tip.
 
NEWS & NOTES

• The Explorers and Hawks meet for the second time of the season on Wednesday evening, setting the stage for a rematch of an MLK Day showdown at Hawk Hill in which the Explorers walked out victorious after a second half surge.
• Four scorers in the first meeting combined to outscore the entirety of the Hawks team, led by Jack Clark matching his career-high of 21 points. Josh Nickelberry added 19 points in the win, while Clifton Moore and Khalil Brantley added 16 and 10 respectively.
• La Salle comes off its biggest win of the season, taking down Dayton on Senior Day inside Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center in a comeback effort after trailing by 15 in the second half. The win over the Flyers broke a five-game losing skid from the Explorers.
• The Explorers used a 17-0 run to cut their second-half deficit, Brantley scoring eight of the 17 points during that run to pace the Blue and Gold. His performance against the Flyers helped him earn Rookie of the Week honors from the Atlantic 10.
• Moore returned to his Atlantic 10 prowess, recording 16 points in the victory over the Flyers. The senior now has recorded double-figures in 15 of 16 conference games. Clark recorded 13 points and nine rebounds, one board short of his third double-double of the season.

 
SCOUTING SAINT JOSEPH'S

• The Hawks fly north to meet the Explorers on Wednesday, entering the game with a 10-17 record and a 4-12 mark in Atlantic 10 play. Saint Joseph's has fallen in each of its last six matchups heading into the Big 5 matchup, dropping 9 of its last 11. St. Joe's is 2-1 in Big 5 games this year.
• Both the Explorers and Hawks each only have accrued one road win on the season, the lone win on the road coming in an emphatic 83-56 win over Richmond to open Atlantic 10 play.
• Joining La Salle amongst the bottom half of the conference in scoring, the Hawks are one of the nation's leaders in three point field goal attempts despite converting on just 33.6 of their efforts.
• Jordan Hall is the leader of the Hawk team, ranking 10th in the country in assists per game with 5.9 dimes per contest. Hall also leads the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) and steals (1.1 spg).
• Ejike Obinna is one of the country's most efficient scorers, 13th in the NCAA shooting a staggering 58.9% from the floor. Obinna averages 12.1 points per game and rakes in a team-high 7.3 rebounds.
• Taylor Funk is one of the most dangerous players on the court from distance, knocking down 37.9% of his attempts from range. Funk ranks fourth in the conference and 60th in the country in three-point percentage, adding 13.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

• After an impressive showing over the course of the last week, Khalil Brantley was selected as the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for Feb.28. The freshman recorded 14.5 points per game and secured three rebounds per contest on the week, shooting 10-18 (55.6%) from the field.
• In his homecoming to the Bronx, Brantley was one of two Explorers to add double figures against Fordham to finish with 12 points, three rebounds and a steal.
• Brantley followed the performance up with a team-high 17 points against Dayton, 15 coming in the second half. The rookie of the week helped surmount a 15 point second half deficit against the Flyers to protect home court. 
• It is the first Rookie of the Week honor from an Explorer since Jerrell Wright won the award twice in the 2011-12 season.

 
GROUNDING THE FLYERS

• The Explorers grabbed their biggest win of the season on Saturday, February 26, defeating the high-flying Dayton Flyers 62-60 inside Tom Gola Arena.
• The Explorers overcame a 15 point deficit in the second half, the largest comeback of the season for La Salle.
• La Salle dominated the glass against a team that has been known to do that to opponents this season, Dayton entering 20th in the country in rebound margin. The 38-29 advantage led to a 15-5 second chance point advantage in favor of the Explorers
• The Explorers scored 43 points in the second galf against one of the stingiest defenses in the country. The Explorers also handed just the second loss to the Flyers when they enter the half with a lead, previously 17-1. Dayton also was 19-3 when allowing less than 70 points a game prior to the defeat to La Salle.
• The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Explorers while giving the Flyers their first blemish in five games, having won 12 of their last 14.

 
POSTSEASON SCENARIOS

• If the Explorers win at least one of their next two games, they will be locked in the #12/#13 matchup with Saint Joseph's potentially playing the Hawks twice in a span of three games to start their Washington, D.C. campaign.
• La Salle still has a route in which it finishes 14th if they lose both games, where they would be likely to face Rhode Island or UMass in the tournament. Duquesne would have to win out the rest of the season, facing George Washington on the road before having to host the Explorers on the final day of the season.

 
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 69 blocks, Anwar Gill the next closest with 10 blocks.
• Moore remains in fourth place heading into the matchup with the Hawks, one shy of tying Aaric Murray's 70 blocks in 2009-10.
• If Moore continues his pace of 2.7 blocks per game, Moore will finish the season near the top of the leaderboard, projected to finish with 74 blocks by the end of the regular season. The 74 blocks would be three 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 102 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
69           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), 302nd 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 6-7, shooting the ball at a 43.3% clip, 32.8% from deep while holding opponents to 42.0% from the field and 33.0% 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 7-6 in games played during the day, 1-12 in games played at night.

 
MORE OF MOORE

• Clifton Moore has proven himself to be a menace on the defensive side of the ball, ranking 17th in the nation in blocks with 2.65 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. The redshirt-senior bounced back against the Flyers with a 16 point, seven rebound performance.

 
JACK OF ALL TRADES

• Clark produced his best game of the season in a Philly matchup, taking over with 21 points against St. Joe's to tie a career-high in points. Clark scored 18 of his 21 in the second half, also adding six rebounds in the rivalry win.
• Clark is one of three Explorers to score in double digits against conference foes, averaging 13.2 points per game in A-10 play, adding 5.4 rebounds.
• Tallying just four double-figure games in the non-conference, Clark has tallied 11 games with 10 points or more in the 16 conference games.

 
RAY THE RELIABLE

• After 25 games, Christian Ray averages 6.9 rebounds per game to rank first on the team - also leading the team in rebounding in the 2020-21 season. The junior has posted three 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

• La Salle looks to close in on the series history against the Hawks, on the other end of a 67-55 record to Saint Joseph's.
• The meeting will be the 123rd matchup between the two since 1934, one of the most storied rivalries in the program's history.
• This will be the fifth meeting in the last two years for the sides, the series split at 2-2.
• The Explorers got the better of the Hawks at Hawk Hill, rallying for a 51-point second half for a 75-64 win.
• Last season, La Salle grabbed their only win against the Hawks inside of Gola, looking to win their sixth straight on 20th and Olney against their Big Five rivals.
• Coach Howard is 5-3 against the Hawks under the helm of the Explorers.