La Salle’s defensive lapses were costly in a 75-57 loss to St. Louis
La Salle had steady production from a couple of players, but a weak defensive effort doomed the team.
La Salle had two of the game’s top scorers, but the Explorers’ defense derailed a solid start Tuesday night and led to another loss for the last-place team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, as visiting St. Louis claimed a 75-57 win.
The Billikins enjoyed balanced scoring and carried a double-digit lead during most of the contest to secure a comfortable victory over La Salle at Tom Gola Arena on Tuesday. The Explorers dropped to 2-11 in games when they allowed 70 or more points this season.
“I thought our effort overall was lacking,” La Salle head coach Ashley Howard said. “I thought Saint Louis came out, they’re a physical team and we didn’t match their physicality from the start and I think that set the tone for the entire game.”
Can’t complete comebacks
The Explorers continued their struggles with battling back late in games. La Salle dropped to 0-12 this season in games when it trailed with five minutes left.
Tuesday was no different as the Explorers trailed the Billikens, 63-48, at the five-minute mark.
“Early in the second half, we were right where we wanted to be,” Howard said. “But we couldn’t get it under nine or under 10. We couldn’t crack that.”
Despite a 7-14 record, La Salle has led during some losses. The Explorers held double-digit leads in five of their losses and held their largest lead during the second half four times.
Against Saint Louis, the Explorers watched two leads slip away early in the first half.
More of the same from Moore
Clifton Moore continued his strong play for La Salle. The 6-foot-10 senior recorded a game-high 23 points and added five rebounds and four blocks.
Moore has now scored double digits in 11 straight games and 12 of his last 13. During a dominant January, Moore averaged 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
“Cliff was who we expect him to be,” Howard said. “We demand a lot of him; he’s scoring the ball for us, he’s rebounding for us and he had four blocked shots. He’s improved a lot this season and hopefully he can keep getting better because he still has a lot of room for improvement.”
Dating back to last season, Moore has 23 consecutive games with a blocked shot. He entered Tuesday’s game averaging 2.5 blocks per game, which ranked him No. 25 in the NCAA.
La Salle junior guard Josh Nickelberry also enjoyed a strong game with 17 points.
Francis Okoro led Saint Louis (17-6, 8-2) with 19 points and seven rebounds. It was the sixth straight win for the Billikens.