Author: Nicholas Signoretta

La Salle Men’s Basketball Week In Review 1/24/23

Sports

Nicholas Signoretta, Editor

Courtesy of lasallembb

Society’s favorite La Sallian newspaper, may have taken the past month off to enjoy the winter holiday and delightfully dreary weather that plagues the northeastern United States, but the ever-middling La Salle Explorers men’s basketball squad was not afforded the same opportunity.  While the average resident of 20th & Olney was bumming around all break, Coach Fran Dunphy and the boys were hard at work on the hardwood battlefield.  As always, a new calendar year ushers in good ol’ conference basketball play, and with that, the realization that over eighty percent of the teams in NCAA Division 1 are not making the tourney and will be deeply irrelevant come mid-March.  La Salle, for twenty-nine of the past thirty years, has fallen into this irrelevant grouping.  Hopefully, the Explorers buck the trend this year (they were picked to finish bottom three in the league in most publications).

Courtesy of shotbyscornely

Since the last publication of my Men’s Basketball Review, La Salle has unfortunately settled into the dreaded swing of mediocrity.  A steaming record of 8-11 has been complemented with a sterling mark of 2-4 in conference play.  Highlights of the winter break include a 77-75 OT win over the Rhode Island Rams, a 78-77 upset win at the UMass Minutemen, and covering the spread at Saint Louis (very rare).  While this start might not be ideal, there is a silver-lining somewhere in there.  While our beloved Explorers might be average at best, the Atlantic 10 as a whole this year is frankly a steaming pile of disappointment.  A league that began the year with a ranked Dayton team has fallen off in the whooping three months since the season tipped off.  The conference is hellbent on the path to having just one team dancing come March, and that squad seems poised to fall to an average Big 12 in their opening tournament matchup.  So the silver-lining is that La Salle is not the only “bleh” team in the A-10 this year.  Everyone seems to be on their way for a forgettable 2022-2023 season.

This upcoming week, the Explorers get a home date against the Davidson Wildcats (9-10, 2-5) on Tuesday, Jan. 24, as well as a trip to Kingston, Rhode Island, to face the Rhode Island Rams (6-13, 2-5) on Saturday, Jan. 28.  I pray they win these contests as they would make next week’s article exciting to write (but equally as painful).

La Salle Men’s Basketball Week In Review 12/6/22

Sports

Nicholas Signoretta, Editor

Courtesy of doms.pov

La Salle University Men’s Basketball had a decent rebound week to kick off their post-Thanksgiving stretch.  After a tough trip two weeks ago in the Jamaica Classic, the Explorers got the benefit of staying home in the City Of Brotherly Love for all three of their most recent contests. 

The Explorers opened the week with a home contest at the ever-cozy Tom Gola Arena against the Binghamton Bearcats on Saturday, Nov. 26th.  A narrow 65-62 victory almost slipped through the Explorers’ grasp as the Bearcats rallied back from multiple second-half deficits to take a lead with just under five minutes to play.  Luckily, the boys from 20th and Olney rallied to bring home that sweet Thanksgiving break W. 

The next contest the Explorers played was at the pinnacle of all Philadelphia basketball venues, the Palestra.  In the first leg of a Philly Big 5 doubleheader, the Explorers tipped off against the second best university north of Market Street, the Temple Owls.  While Temple may be a subpar university off the court, the Owls were the dominant squad on the hardwood.  Temple guard Khalif Battle had a big night at the Cathedral of Basketball, leading all scorers with 22 points and guiding his squad to a 67-51 victory.  The Explorers had a lead with under nine minutes left in the game, but Fran Dunphy’s first game back against his former employer was spoiled as La Salle was outscored 28-7 down the stretch, and the Owls improved their record against the Explorers to 25-7 this millennium.

La Salle closed out the weekend with another game at the Palestra.  Their foe was a Big 5 team that also formerly employed Coach Dunphy, the Penn Quakers.  Despite the Quakers’ home court advantage, that subpar excuse for a basketball team was no match for the mighty Explorers, led by guards Anwar Gill and Jhamir Brickus, who dropped career highs of 26 and 25 points, respectively.  Penn guard Jordan Dingle(berry) scored a career high 37 points, including a three point heave at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, but the Quakers never had a chance to top the overpowering force of the Explorers.

Courtesy of shotsbycornely

With those three games in the books, La Salle now sits at a nice and even 4-4.  Home matchups against the Bucknell Bison (6-3) on Tuesday, Dec. 6th, and the Drexel Dragons (4-5) on Saturday, Dec.10th, await the Explorers.  With the rest of the out of conference slate looking rather winnable besides an away date with the Cincinnati Bearcats (6-3) on Saturday, Dec. 17th, La Salle has a solid chance to enter conference play with a winning record and a reason to exist come mid-February.  Quite the ask.