By: Josh Abrams
Photos: Ryan Nix
University City - In the old days of the Big-5, a regular season matchup between the La Salle Explorers and Drexel Dragons typically wouldn't carry as much weight as one would imagine.
That isn't quite the case these days, though. This is year two of the new era of Big-5 basketball, and while things might look and feel a bit different, the intensity and excitement still makes its presence felt.
That theme continued on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed crowd at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, as La Salle topped Drexel in a nail-biting classic by a score of 71-68. A three-headed scoring monster led the way offensively for the Explorers; grad transfer Jahlil White paced all players with 19 points (on 7-9 FG shooting), while junior forward Demetrius Lilley (Lower Merion) recorded a double-double with 18 points & 11 rebounds. Grad transfer Corey McKeithan scored 17 points and led both teams in assists with six.
It was the first career double-double and new career high in scoring for the newly-acquired Lilley, who came over to North Philly in the off-season after spending two years in State College with the Nittany Lions of Penn State. The 6'9" forward made a stellar impact on both ends of the floor, but was the last person to put the focus on himself.
"It feels great," said Lilley. "Thank you to my teammates for passing me the ball, for giving me those looks and opportunities, thank you to coach (Fran Dunphy) for trusting me to be out there."
Fans in support of the Explorers certainly were thankful he was on the floor for the closing minutes. La Salle led for a majority of the game until the 3:35 mark, when Drexel junior guard Jason Drake connected on his third triple (his 18th points of the game) to tie the game at 65 apiece.
The Dragons took their first lead with 90 seconds remaining and had multiple chances to build on it on their following possessions. But with 22 seconds left, McKeithan grabbed his own miss and found Lilley for an easy layup that put the Explorers back up by one point.
McKeithan grabs own miss and finds Lilley underneath to put La Salle ahead with under 30 seconds left (Video by Josh Abrams)
La Salle junior Demetrius Lilley knew La Salle was the right fit for him almost immediately (Video by Josh Abrams)
La Salle's defense stepped up when it mattered most and forced Drexel into a jump ball situation that awarded the Explorers the ball with three seconds left since the possession arrow was in their favor. A perfectly executed inbounds play led to White streaking to the basket for a wide open layup as time expired, sealing the monumental Big-5 win for Dunphy and his crew.
"Good win for us, for sure," said the longtime Philly basketball legend. "I think Drexel is a really good basketball team. We just found a way at the end to grab a rebound - the last rebound - and then the nice play Corey McKeithan gave to 'Meech' for the go-ahead bucket... very grateful."
An exciting sequence from the Explorers: Lilley block leads to Shepherd dunk off assist from McKeithan (Video by Josh Abrams)
La Salle HC Fran Dunphy gives thoughts on team's 71-68 victory over Drexel in Big-5 clash (Video by Josh Abrams)
Given Drexel is in just their second season as members of the newly-aligned Big-5, it is fair to question how they would perform against their city-wide competition. It didn't take very long to answer such inquiries last year; when they defeated Villanova in the 5th-place game at Wells Fargo Center.
So, even though they fell short to La Salle for a second straight year, there were still positives to take away.
"It was pretty energized in the locker room at halftime, so it feels good to be able to fight back," said junior forward Cole Hargrove, who finished with a double-double (10 points, 15 boards). "But I don't think we should have been down in the first place. Lilley got hot early, (McKeithan) got hot early. I don't think we could find a way to get stops."
Continued Hargrove: "I feel like we are playing pretty well even though we're losing. But I like our team's fight, we always (hold) our heads high and just work, try to be better."
Drexel junior Cole Hargrove is proud of the way he and his teammates fought against La Salle despite coming up just short (Video by Josh Abrams)
Drexel HC Zach Spiker elaborates on tough and hard-fought three point loss to La Salle (Video by Josh Abrams)
Dragons head coach Zach Spiker is no stranger to these types of games. The ninth-year leader shared a very valuable lesson; one that he's learned over the years, and just the past week alone, after dropping two closely-contested Big-5 games in a row to Temple (69-61) on Tuesday and then La Salle.
"Hard-fought game. Another Big-5 classic game, campus game," started Spiker. " The margin for success, relief, and losing and misery - however you want to define them - is razor thin. It's not a 'this year' thing, it's not a 'Drexel' thing; when you've got evenly-matched teams - college athletes competing and performing - the margin between success and losing is really thin."
The last few minutes of any game are the most imperative in deciding the outcome, but Spiker wanted the focus to be on the entire game, a testament to how much he values all 40 minutes.
"Two foul shots with 15 minutes to play in the first second half are worth just as many points," Zach said. "So it's a lesson sometimes, as teams, players and sometimes even coaches. You've gotta relearn... You don't want to have to go through fire and be a galvanized group but, inevitably, it's going to happen, and that's what we're going through right now. I would just tell you that it sucks, but I'm proud of that group... It's an honor to coach a group that's played as hard as they have."
Explorers and Dragons dueling early in the second half, teams trade baskets before La Salle's Jahlil White gets the steal-and-slam (Video by Josh Abrams)
With a 4-0 start to the young season for a second year in a row - the first time since 1967-68 and 1968-69 when Dunphy played guard for the Explorers - La Salle will look to keep their momentum when they travel to Daytona Beach for their next contest against UC San Diego in the Boardwalk Battle on Thursday, November 21st at 1 PM. This will be the Explorers' first game away from the city of Philadelphia.
For Drexel, they fall to 2-2 on the young season and will spend the rest of November traveling to their opponents. That stretch begins on Tuesday, November 19th at Fairfield with a 7 PM scheduled tip-off.
