By: Caleb Pfleiger
PHILADELPHIA- On Wednesday, the La Salle Explorers fall to the UMass Minutemen 77-71 in a back and forth heated conference matchup. The Explorers now fall to 1-7 in the Atlantic 10, with a few of these losses being one possession games. Simply, the ball has not bounced the Explorers way in the second half of games this year. La Salle now ranks last in the conference with only one win, something head coach Ashley Howard will want to try to fix going forward.
The Explorers came out the gates firing from three early, as juniors Josh Nickelberry and Jack Clark buried back to back threes in the Explorers first two possessions. UMass senior Rich Kelly was a spark plug for them all day as he accounted for the first four points for the Minutemen.
The Minutemen continued to exchange baskets with the Explorers as Kelly assisted senior Trent Buttrick to give UMass the first lead all day 28-27.
La Salle’s sophomore Anwar Gille made his appearance known by burying a three with two seconds left in the first half to give the Explorers their largest lead of the first half heading into halftime 42-32.
La Salle went into halftime leading UMass by 10 points, with strong first half performances from Explorers' Jack Clark, Josh Nickelberry, and Clifton Moore, which all three combined for 29 of the Explorers 32 points. This battle was far from over, as the Explorers have had poor second halves in prior games that resulted in losses.
La Salle vs. UMass - Highlights by Caleb Pfleiger:
Moore and Nickelberry continued their scoring frenzy, knocking down back to back threes to give La Salle a 48-34 lead with 17 minutes remaining in the second half.
Buttrick continued to put on a show for UMass from beyond the arc, hitting two consecutive threes to pull the Minutemen within 10 points. Following Buttrick's pair of threes, the Minutemen went on a 7-0 run to cut La Salle’s lead to 50-47 with 13 minutes remaining in the contest.
With six minutes remaining in this contest, it was a 62-59 La Salle lead, but Kelly had different plans for UMass as he scored six straight for the Minutemen to give them a 65-62 lead over La Salle. After UMass took this lead they never looked back as they defeated La Salle 77-71, giving UMass its second Atlantic 10 victory of the season.
La Salle fell to 6-11 on the season, now 6-12 after a recent 77-69 loss to nationally ranked Davidson. The Explorers look to bounce back on the road against George Washington on Wednesday at 7 p.m.