Clifton Moore scores career-high 26 points, but La Salle falls to Fordham in Atlantic 10 opener
Moore was the star of the game, but the Explorers couldn't match the Rams.
La Salle went head-to-head with Fordham in a scrappy game to open Atlantic 10 Conference play and close out 2021.
Forward Clifton Moore was the undisputed star for the Explorers, scoring a career-high 26 points in a 69-61 loss to the Rams on Thursday at Tom Gola Arena. The home team was without Sherif Kenney, who announced Tuesday that he was entering the transfer portal, along with Christian Ray.
But this game was about Moore,. a calm and collected presence on the court. The Ambler, Pa., native has been a standout both offensively and defensively. Coach Ashley Howard said Moore was “exhausted” and “gasping for air” at times during the game. Howard said he had to take Moore out to rest him, attributing his and the team’s tiredness to their lack of game conditioning since their matchup against Drexel was postponed due to COVID within the Dragons’ program.
However, Howard stated, “Cliff is a talent. … Today, we were able to take advantage of him in certain situations. He’s a great kid, hard worker, and he’ll just keep getting better. I hope he can use an individual performance like this to give himself some confidence as we continue to move forward in league play.”
Moore’s career-high easily eclipsed his previous of 15 points against Army.
The Explorers put up a good fight, but felt the absences of Anwar Gill, who injured an ankle early in the game, Kenney and Ray.
“Not having Anwar was significant,” Howard said. “He’s our utility guy, he does everything. He keeps us connected, him and [Christian Ray] keep us connected. Not having [Gill] was huge. I thought we played well enough to win the game, but now I’m looking at lineups with Matt MacFarlane, who hasn’t played a lot, Khalil Brantley, who got some minutes. These are valuable minutes that these guys can learn from, but we definitely missed [Ray] and [Gill] out there today. ”