PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team will kick off the 2026-27 regular season with a road contest at No. 10 Houston on Monday night at 9:00 p.m. EST. The game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
Four players scored in double figures as the Explorers cruised past Neumann 107-61 in the season-opening exhibition at John E. Glaser Arena last Tuesday.
Redshirt junior guard Rob Dockery led the Explorers with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and hauled in six rebounds in 18 minutes. Sophomore guard Devin Booker added 17 points off the bench. Senior forward Anthony Finkley filled the stat sheet with 14 points, a game-high nine rebounds, and five assists while freshman guard RJ Smith also netted 14 points and dished out a game-high six assists.
Darris Nichols enters his second season as the head coach at La Salle. The Explorers feature seven returners and add 11 newcomers to the roster, including three Philadelphia natives – Finkley (Saint Joseph's), Booker (George Mason), and Smith (Imhotep Institute Charter HS/Roman Catholic HS).
Last season, the Explorers were bitten by the injury bug and featured 23 different starting lineup combinations.
Dockery, a Preseason Second Team A10 selection Rob Dockery played in all 32 games for the Explorers during the 2025-26 season and averaged team-highs with 12.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game.
Dockery ended the season with a terrific six-game stretch, averaging 23.6 points and eight rebounds in nearly 34 minutes per game. He scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first round of the A10 Tournament against St. Bonaventure last season.
Point guard Jaden Johnson started in 19 games as a sophomore last season after missing the entire non-conference slate with an injury. Johnson averaged 6.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.2 steals in 29.8 minutes per game. He ranked tied for second in the A10 with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio during conference play. Johnson tallied 74 assists and averaged 4.1 assists per game during A10 play, the seventh most in the conference.
Senior forward Anthony Finkley makes the move from City Avenue to 20th & Olney. Last season, Finkley was a member of the Saint Joseph's team that reached the NIT quarterfinals. He played in 35 games for the Hawks and made 13 starts, averaging 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. Finkley made 32 3-point field goals and shot 81% from the free-throw line.
Newcomer and Houston native Kam Burton (Stephen F. Austin) adds 3-point shooting to the Explorers' offense. Burton led Stephen F. Austin to a 28-6 overall record and a National Invitation Tournament berth as a junior last season. Burton started in all 34 games as a guard for the Lumberjacks and averaged 7.9 points and 1.8 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game. He shot 40.8% from the field and ranked second on the team with 76 3-point field goals.
