PHILADELPHIA, PA. 11/27/2016 – As the Thanksgiving Day holiday winds down it was time for one more festive occasion, a city game as the Drexel Dragons hosted the La Salle Explorers at the DAC. The turkey tasted a little better for La Salle who treated themselves with a 89 – 78 win over the Drexel Dragons. For the main course the Explorers moved the ball, made their three-pointers, and evened their record at 2 – 2.
“The better the ball movement the better the shots for anybody,” said La Salle Coach Dr. John Giannini. “There is a balance between being aggressive and being unselfish. Today, we had that right balance.”
La Salle made 32 of 59 shots, 13 of 21 from distance. The Explorers were credited with 21 assists on their made field goals. Guard Cleon Roberts led the way with 22 points. He was hot from beyond the arc making 6 of 7 which is a career-high. Jordan Price scored 20 and Amar Stukes added 14 points. All totaled the three guards were a combined 11 of 13 from three-point land.
“My teammates got me open and I finished it,” said Roberts about his hot shooting game.
“Three-point shooting is a more important stat as there is in basketball,” Giannini said. “When a team makes thirteen of them, they’re probably going to win. That’s a huge stat.”
It didn’t go nearly as well for the Dragons who made 43.1% of their field goal attempts, (25 of 58), and the shots from beyond the arc did not fall (9 of 20). Kurk Lee scored a team-high 21 points and he handed out 5 assists. Sammy Mojica added 15 points and took down a game-best 8 rebounds.
The momentum turned towards the Explorers midway through the first half. Leading 21 – 14 La Salle went on a 15 – 2 run over 4:50 to go ahead 36 – 16. The score at halftime was 44 – 27 LSU.
“I don’t think we did a great job of contesting shots early,” said Drexel Coach Zach Spiker. “Any good baksetball team, when they get rhythm, they get confidence, and they were able to execute.”
Then out came the desert table. Drexel got two straight baskets from guard Kurk Lee, who scored a team-high xx points, to cut the deficit to 13 points. The Explorers answered with a 12 – 3 run over the next 2:18 for a 23-point lead. The Dragons made charges, but could never get the lead under 10 points.
The Explorers (2 – 2) return home for a Wednesday game with Bucknell. The Dragons (2 – 4) travel to Lafayette the same night.
Nonetheless, PhillyCollegeSports.com hopes everyone had a happy holiday weekend.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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