Philadelphia, PA – The La Salle men's basketball team will participate in the Cathedral Classic, hosted by Penn, playing games against Hofstra, Penn, and Merrimack this weekend.

The Explorers will take on Hofstra on Friday at 2 pm, before playing the Quakers on Saturday at 4:30 pm. La Salle will face off against Merrimack on Sunday at noon.

Last Time Out

La Salle earned a wire-to-wire 75-46 victory over Lancaster Bible on Saturday afternoon at John E. Glaser Arena.
Freshman Ashton Walker paced the Explorers with 18 points, while redshirt sophomore Rob Dockery added 12 points.
La Salle led for 37:13 minutes of the contest and led by as much as 34 points, as a 21-0 run late in the first half helped the Explorers snap a three-game losing streak.

The Complete 5

La Salle will face off against all Big 5 schools this year. The Explorers played Temple and Villanova in Big 5 pod play, will face Drexel in the Big 5 Classic, while squaring off against Penn at the Cathedral Classic and St. Joe's in Atlantic 10 play.

Daniel's Double-Double

Junior Edwin Daniel recorded the first double-double by an Explorer this season with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Lancaster Bible.

Staying Disciplined

The Explorers commit just 13.8 fouls per game, which leads the Atlantic 10 and is 15^th in the nation.

Marshall Leads The Way

Graduate student Jaeden Marshall leads the Explorers with 12.5 points per game. Marshall is 21-22 (95.2%) from the free throw line on the season, good for 27^th in the country in free throw percentage. Only graduate student Justin Archer (25) has attempted more free throws this season for the Explorers.

Acker On The Rise

After one point in the first two games, junior Eric Acker is averaging 11.5 points per game over the last four games, which leads the Explorers over that span.

The Series

La Salle and Hofstra will meet for the 22^nd time and first time since 2015 on Friday. La Salle holds a 15-6 advantage in the all-time series. The Blue and Gold's last victory over the Pride came in 2014.

Saturday's game against Penn will be the 77^th meeting between the two teams, with the Quakers holding a 42-34 edge in the all-time series. In the last meeting between the two teams in 2023, junior Khalil Brantley banked home a long three-pointer as the buzzer sounded, leading the Explorers to an epic 93-92 overtime victory over the Quakers at the first-ever Big 5 Classic.

Sunday's contest will mark the first-ever game between La Salle and Merrimack.

The La Salle – Hofstra Connection

Friday's game will feature a plethora of familiar faces on the sidelines. Special Assistant to the Head Coach Joe Mihalich '78 was Hofstra's head coach from 2013-2021. In his seven years at the helm of the Pride, Mihalich amassed a record of 141-92, including four postseason berths - two NIT bids and an automatic NCAA Tournament berth that never took place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his second season at Hofstra, Mihalich improved the squad to a 20-14 record and a CBI first round appearance. In 2015-16, the Pride became Colonial Athletic Association regular-season champions with a 14-4 conference record in just his third season in charge. Mihalich tallied five winning seasons in his seven years as head coach at Hofstra, combining for a 53-16 record in his final two years that saw the Pride record back-to-back regular season titles and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2019-20 after sweeping both the regular season and CAA Tournament Championship.

Assistant Coach Colin Curtin is in his first season at La Salle after 12 seasons at Hofstra. During his time with the Pride, he helped Hofstra to over 200 wins, including a school record 27 games in 2018-19, his time with the team included seven 20-win seasons, four regular season CAA titles, four postseason appearances, and the 2020 CAA Championship.

Associate Head Coach Shane Nichols was an assistant coach at Hofstra from 2013-2015.

Scouting The Pride

Hofstra enters Friday's game with a 2-3 record after wins over Molloy and Bucknell. Most recently, the Pride lost 81-76 at Temple.

Scouting The Quakers

Penn comes into the weekend with an impressive 3-2 record. With wins over Saint Joe's and Drexel, the Quakers have qualified for the Big 5 Championship game.

Scouting The Warriors

Entering the weekend, Merrimack sits at 2-4 on the season. The Warriors have played two ranked opponents in Auburn and Florida while picking up wins over Boston University and Maine.

Next Up

La Salle will face off against Drexel at the Big 5 Classic on December 6 at 2:00 pm on NBC Sports Philadelphia.