St. Louis 77, La Salle 76: Stats, highlights, and reaction from Explorers’ overtime loss

La Salle put up a fight with a gritty second-half comeback against Saint Louis but fell in overtime, 77-76, Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena.

The Explorers (10-10, 1-7 Atlantic 10) made just 4 of their first 15 field goal attempts and endured a scoreless stretch of just under five minutes in the middle of the first half. The Billikens (16-5, 5-3) led 35-25 at halftime.

The second half wasn’t much to write home about until the late stages. The Explorers cut the Billikens’ lead to 55-52 with 6:21 remaining, and suddenly the game and the sparse crowd were alive.

The deficit was down to 58-57 with 5:06 left, and 67-65 with 38.6 seconds to go. Ed Croswell tied the score at 67 by hitting two free throws with 31 seconds to go, after Saint Louis’ Hasahn French airballed a free throw.

In overtime, La Salle led for a few brief moments, but a Jordan Goodwin three-pointer put the Billikens up 77-73 with 52 seconds to go.

After David Beatty hit a three and Goodwin missed a free throw, Isiah Deas had two chances to win the game on the last possession, but he couldn’t get either to fall.

Croswell finished with career highs of 24 points and 18 rebounds, including 9 at the offensive end.

Goodwin led St. Louis with 12 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals.

The Explorers were without freshman guard Sherif Kenney, who broke a finger in practice earlier this week. Explorers coach Ashley Howard went with just eight men in his rotation, and said after the game that Kenney is day-to-day.

“It’s a disappointing loss, because I feel like our guys played with maximum effort. We battled back. Our culture will be of a team that plays for 40 minutes and doesn’t quit, and battles, and digs, and scraps, and claws, and gives themselves a chance to win every game. … We’re not far. We’ve just got to keep getting better, keep staying focused on what we need to do to keep improving and just be the best team we can be by March. … When we deserve it [to win], when we earn it, we’ll get it.” - La Salle coach Ashley Howard.

“He was our poster child, he was our role model, he was our everything, man. If you wanted to create the perfect basketball player in terms of skill athleticism, work ethic, mentality, it was Kobe Bryant.” - Howard, who along with assistant Donnie Carr knows Kobe and the Bryant family. Kobe’s father Joe was a star player at La Salle in the 1970s.

It was no surprise that St. Louis kept the clamps on La Salle’s offense. In addition to Kenney being out, the Billikens rank No. 48 nationally in defensive efficiency and No. 14 in two-point defense.

St. Louis is one of four A-10 teams in the top 50 in defensive efficiency. The others are No. 21 VCU, No. 34 Rhode Island, and No. 40 Dayton -- and the Explorers have lost to each of them this month.

La Salle goes to Duquesne next (Sunday, 2 p.m., ESPN+), no slouch in defensive efficiency at No. 66. Then, St. Joseph’s visits on Feb. 8, and that’s the game to circle to see whether the Explorers can get a win for the first time since Jan. 5.

St. Louis plays at St. Joe’s on Saturday (6:30 p.m., NBCSN), and the Hawks should note that the Billikens shoot just 56.4% from the free-throw line, dead last in Division I. French shoots just 33.7%.