Lily Gebbia, Staff

PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle men’s basketball team has started the season on a four game win streak with convincing victories by rather large margins. Most recently, The Explorers played one of their city rivals, Drexel University. The Saturday afternoon game was quite a rollercoaster with La Salle firing on all cylinders, giving them a 43-31 lead at halftime. 

Unexpectedly, Drexel scored 37 points to La Salle’s 28 points in the second half, making the fourth quarter a lot closer than fans thought. However, it was too little too late and La Salle sealed the win by 3 points, 71-68. This win over Drexel was the closest margin they’ve seen this year after blowing out Cornell and Lafayette University by 15+ points. 

This Explorers team looks good early, very similar to their 2023-2024 4-0 start. Of course, last year the team lost their fifth game to Duke University, one of the best teams in the country. Luckily, they won’t be playing Duke this year. Instead, The Explorers will be heading down to the racing town of Daytona Beach, Florida for the Boardwalk Battle tournament. Their first matchup will be against UC San Diego, a 2-2 Big West team, with no prior matchup history with La Salle. 

In reference to statistics, La Salle will go in as a favorite to win and move on in the tournament. The Explorers scored 77.5 points per game to San Diego’s 71.8. Additionally, La Salle only allows 64 ppg while San Diego allows 69.3 ppg. All around, La Salle looks like the better team on paper and should have a victorious weekend in Daytona. 

When they return from the Sunshine State, they will have a week to rest in preparation for another city rival, Temple University. They will need their rest because Temple is one of the toughest matchups for La Salle in recent years. La Salle is 8-34 historically and lost their last five against Temple. 

Looking even further down the schedule, La Salle will have their work cut out for them as the games will get more competitive. But for now, La Salle is undefeated and looks to continue this hot streak throughout the beginning of the season.