PHILADELPHIA - La Salle and Temple delivered an instant Philadelphia Big 5 classic on Tuesday night at Liacouras Center. Unfortunately for the Explorers, they fell short in a triple-overtime thriller, 106-99, in a game that featured thrilling plays throughout.
Senior
Jhamir Brickus set a new single-game Big 5 scoring record with a career-high 41 points, breaking former Explorer Steve Black's record that was set on February 26, 1983 against the Owls. Junior
Khalil Brantley also had a big night, delivering 29 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- As the second half was winding down, the Explorers looked like they were out of it.
- With 1:39 to go, the Owls were up 70-62, but just as Fran Dunphy teams do, they battled all the way until the end.
- A key three-pointer from Brickus with five seconds left would send the game to overtime.
- Brickus went 13-for-27 from the floor, 4-for-7 from three and 11-for-12 from the free throw line to account for his 41 points.
- Brantley played the entire 55 minutes of game time, also setting a new career mark for rebounds for a single game.
- The duo would combined for 70 of the Explorers 99 points.
- The second overtime saw the Explorers up three late, but Steve Settle knocked down a game-tying three-pointer to push the game to a third OT.
- In that third overtime period, La Salle saw a number of key players foul out and committed two turnovers early in the period, from which they could not recover.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- La Salle and Temple combined to score 205 points, the second most combined points in a Big 5 game all-time.
- La Salle and Villanova combined for 216 points in a three-overtime game as well in 1958.
- Wednesday's game was just the fifth triple-overtime game in Big 5 history, with the last one coming in 1980.
- The Explorers and Owls combined for 68 fouls with 10 players fouling out, five for each side.
- The Explorers reached the free throw line 35 times Wednesday night, knocking down 26 attempts, good for 74 percent.
UP NEXT
- The Explorers head to the Wells Fargo Center to take on Penn in the first consolation game of the MHS Lift Big 5 Classic.
- Tip-off is scheduled for around 4:45 on Saturday afternoon. The game can be seen on NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus as well as Peacock Network.