Photos: Zack Beavers
Story by: Josh Abrams (@jabrams1998)
PHILADELPHIA – The first Sunday of February featured the last Big-5 contest of the college basketball season at Hagan Arena in Northwest Philadelphia, as the Hawks of Saint Joseph’s played host to the visiting Explorers of La Salle.
In a classic and tough battle between two teams very familiar with one another, La Salle prevailed and held on against St. Joe’s by a score of 73-65. Josh Nickelberry led all NINE Explorers scorers with 16 points, with Khalil Brantley and Jhamir Brickus right behind him at 12 and 11 points, respectively. Erik Reynolds II (15 points) and Ejike Obinna (14) paced St. Joe’s offensively.
It was the 126th meeting between the two programs, with La Salle picking up their 58th victory in the storied rivalry. The Explorers were looking to seek revenge for a MLK Day loss to St. Joe’s (71-59 at the Gola) and were able to do so through their coveted offensive rebounding and timely baskets.
La Salle never trailed at any point during the game, yet Explorer head coach Fran Dunphy made it clear this game was anything but easy.
La Salle vs. SJU - PSD Highlights by Josh Abrams
“Obviously this is a very good win for us,” the first year HC said. “But every game is a grind for us. We don’t have a lot of margin for error… but overall our defense was pretty good. I’m really proud of our guys, St. Joe’s is really playing well and we’re just grateful for the win.”
Coming into the game La Salle ranked in the top-80 nationwide in terms of offensive rebounds per game. They showed why they hold that rank by grabbing 16 of them against St. Joe’s on Sunday; a rather frustrating number for Hawks head coach Billy Lange to have to observe.
“In a game where we both ended up with the same amount of field goal attempts (both teams shot 27-62 for the game), that shows you the impact of those 16 offensive rebounds,” said Lange. “Particularly when (at least) nine of their points from three came off of offensive rebounds. The inconsistencies that we have there are tied to competitive maturity and we have to get better at that and we have to address that.”
Post Game Press conference with SJU head coach Billy Lange - PSD Video by Josh Abrams
Post Game press conference with La Salle's Fran Dunphy & Josh Nickelberry - Video by Josh Abrams
La Salle got off to a quick 7-0 lead to start the game before St. Joe’s rallied back to make it 12-7 at the first media timeout. The Explorers held eight and nine point leads at the other media TO’s but the Hawks kept them at bay and went into halftime trailing by just five points, 35-30. Daeshon Shepherd connected on his only three point shot of the game and a Lynn Greer III responding three left his hands just after the buzzer sounded.
St. Joe’s fought back to tie the game with just under eleven minutes remaining in the second half after a Reynolds II layup knotted things at 47 apiece. From that point forward, Nickelberry and the Blue and Gold took over, as he knocked down three three-point shots in a row and went on a personal 9-4 run to put La Salle back on top for good.
It is worth noting that in this game he performed off the bench, his fifth such game this season, and he expressed how his role has expanded to being both a starter and a bench contributor for the Explorers.
“I’m just doing whatever my team needs me to do to win,” said the senior guard from North Carolina. “So not being in the lineup is fine with me as long as we (keep winning); I just come in the game and play my role. I know they are going to play me hard on defense, so I just read the defense and take what I can get.”
La Salle vs. St. Joe's - PSD Gallery by Zack Beavers
La Salle did not shoot any free throws during the first half but in the second half they knocked down 9-13 FT’s to help seal their win on the road. St. Joe’s, meanwhile, struggled to convert from the charity stripe (5-13) and only made six of 25 three point shots. All of that said, however, Lange understands if they are to meet their fellow North Philly rivals, a lot needs to go differently beyond just knocking down shots.
“Credit La Salle; their physical energy was phenomenal tonight,” expressed the New Jersey native. “They do it (bring the physicality) and you have to respond to it, and I don’t want to take credit away from them. They’re a consistent (team), they’re the third best offensive rebounding team in our conference, and tonight they did it and we did not.”
Grittiness, toughness, physicality; just a few of many traits that describe the 2022-23 La Salle basketball squad. Being a former Explorer athlete on the basketball team himself, Fran Dunphy takes more-than-enough pride in instilling those characteristics into his team.
“Again, it’s a grind… and we need to enjoy the grind,” expressed Dunphy. “(We need to) embrace the grind; that’s what it is and I think these guys are doing that. Even when we were struggling there (five-game losing skid to end January) I thought their patience and understanding at what we were going through was pretty good.”
La Salle improves to 10-13 overall on the season and 4-6 in Atlantic-10 play. In Big-5 competition they finished 2-2 with wins over UPenn (84-81 in OT) and St. Joe’s on Sunday. They will look to expand their momentum from a current two-game winning streak when they visit St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. St. Joe’s falls to 11-12 overall on the season and 5-6 in conference play. The Hawks They take the road on Wednesday as well, traveling to a new A-10 school, Loyola Chicago.