Box Score DAYTON, OH. - The La Salle men's basketball team dropped its Atlantic-10 opener, 84-70 to the Dayton Flyers on New Year's Eve. La Salle trailed by as few as nine points with four minutes remaining, but a late run by the Flyers put the game away.
Eric Acker scored 18 points, the most he has scored since joining La Salle.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Half:
- The Explorers jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before the Flyers came back to their first lead of the game 14-12 just before the under-12 media timeout.
- La Salle retook the lead, 18-17, thanks to stifling defense. Dayton was held without a field goal for 3:25 of game time.
- Dayton outscored the Explorers 19-3 to end the half up 36-21.
Second Half:
- La Salle chipped away at the lead to begin the second, cutting the lead to single digits, 42-33, with 15:26 remaining. A couple of minutes later, an Eric Acker jumper sliced the lead to six points, 48-42.
- Dayton exploded for a 12-2 run over the next two minutes to go up 60-44 with nine minutes left.
- The Explorers refused to quit, with Corey McKeithan and Acker each converting three-point plays to trim the deficit back to single digits.
- Daeshon Shepherd scored six of La Salle's next eight points to keep the Explorers within striking distance. The Flyers led, 73-64 with four minutes left on the clock.
- Dayton scored 11 points in the final minutes to seal the win, 84-70.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- McKeithan scored 19 points, his most since adding 21 at Northeastern.
- Shepherd scored 18 points while hitting 7-10 from the field. He is averaging 16.0 points, and .625 from the field in his last three games. The wing also grabbed a season-high eight rebounds.
Next up, the Explorers will open the home portion of the conference slate on Wednesday, January 8, at 6:30 pm. The game will stream on ESPN+. Tickets are available at GoExplorers.com.
