PHILADELPHIA —The La Salle men's basketball team opened its season Tuesday night against a "new", but familiar foe in Drexel.
It wasn't going to be a storybook beginning for Drexel in the Philadelphia Big 5, as the Explorers "welcomed" their crosstown rival to the league by downing the Dragons, 67-61, at Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center.
The win put the Explorers at 1-0 on the season and 1-0 in Pod 1 of the Big 5, which also includes Temple. After Drexel joined the Big 5 in April, the Big 5 split up into two three-team pods for this season, with Penn, Saint Joseph's and Villanova occupying Pod 2. Each team will play the other two teams in their respective pod before all six teams will participate in the MHS Lift Big 5 Classic triple-header at the New Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 2.
The teams that finish first in each pod will compete for the Big 5 championship, the second- place teams in each pod will compete for third place, and the third-place teams will play for fifth place in the Big 5.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Senior guard Anwar Gill led the way in the first half with 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting during a back-and-forth first half that ended in a 32-all tie.
- The backcourt tandem of Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley took over in the second half. After going just 4-for-12 from the floor in the first half, the duo went 7-for-13 from the floor in the second half.
- Brickus in particular scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the half, with nine of his points coming in the final four minutes. The senior guard knocked down a go-ahead three-pointer with 4:00 left, made another go-ahead basket on a jumper with 2:20 remaining to put La Salle ahead, 61-60, and made four free throws in the final 1:30 to seal the victory.
- Along with Brickus, the Explorers also saw Gill, Brantley and Rokas Jocius finish in double figures. Gill put up 15 points, Brantley finished with 13 points, and Jocius added 10.
GAME NOTES
- The Explorers held Drexel to just 4-for-17 from three (24%) and 0-for-6 in the second half.
- After going 0-for-1 from the free throw line in the first half, the Explorers went 11-for-17 in the second half.
- Jocius had a solid outing in the frontcourt, as he also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots to go with his 10 points.
- Andres Marrero drilled two key three-pointers that gave the Explorers the lead each time. The redshirt sophomore made three in the first half that helped La Salle take a 26-24 lead and knocked down a triple in the second half that made it a 44-43 Explorer lead with 13:06 left.
- After a year of redshirting, Ryan Zan got his first game action of his La Salle career and knocked down a three-pointer at the top of the key for his first collegiate points.
UP NEXT
- The Explorers take on Northeastern in their Homecoming game on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.
