BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The La Salle men's basketball team tried to rally from an 11-point halftime deficit in the second half, but the comeback bid fell short as it dropped a 69-61 contest to third-seeded Fordham in the 2023 Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
With the loss, the 11
th-seeded Explorers concluded the 2022-23 season with a 15-19 record. It also denied the Explorers a trip to the A-10 Tournament semifinals for the second time in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Explorers got off to a quick 5-2 lead in the first minute and a half after Jhamir Brickus and Mamadou Doucoure each scored a basket. However, the Rams went on an 11-2 run to take a 13-7 lead with 13:18 remaining.
- The Explorers made an 8-4 run to cut the Rams' advantage to 17-15 with 9:30 left in the half. Khalil Brantley, Brickus, Rokas Jocius and Daeshon Shepherd each scored a basket during the run, with Shepherd capping it with a dunk.
- Then, the Explorers tied the game at 18 with 8:41 remaining after Jocius added three more points on a jumper and a foul shot. But, the Rams managed to go on a 16-5 run to grab a 34-23 lead at halftime.
- In the second half, the Explorers stormed back by going on an 11-2 run to cut the Rams' lead to 36-34 with 16:49 remaining. Brantley spear-headed the run with five points after making a jumper outside of the paint and knocking down a 3-pointer.
- However, the Rams went on a 9-0 run to push their lead back up to 45-34 with 11:08 left.
- The Explorers chipped away at the deficit and managed to get down to four points three times. The first time was 57-53 after Josh Nickelberry buried a triple with 4:11 left. The second time was when Brickus scored on a fastbreak layup following a steal by Fousseyni Drame to make it 61-67 with 1:10 left. The third time was when Brantley made a layup to make it 65-61 with 20 seconds left.
- Unfortunately, the Rams made two foul shots and one more basket to earn a trip to the semifinals.
GAME NOTES
- Brantley led La Salle with 18 points and seven assists. The sophomore guard finished the season scoring in double figures in 26 of 32 games this season while averaging 14.3 points per game and 4.1 assists per game to lead the team in both categories.
- Brickus was the only other Explorer to score in double figures, netting 13 points. The junior guard scored in double figures in 17 contests this season, including all three A-10 Tournament games.
- Shepherd finished with a team-high eight rebounds.
- The Explorers won two A-10 Tournament games for the first time since 2002, when they topped when they topped Fordham, 83-63, in the first round and Temple, 72-66, in the quarterfinals to make their only A-10 semifinal appearance in school history.
- The Explorers made their 12th quarterfinal appearance in program history.
- The Explorers won 15 games for the second time in four seasons after also doing it in 2019-20.
