La Salle beats UMass, 60-51, as Isiah Deas and Saul Phiri deliver Explorers’ first home win of season
La Salle shot poorly against UMass but still walked away with the win Wednesday,60-51.
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It takes a certain kind of effort to win a game comfortably when shooting just 34 percent from the field, but that’s what La Salle delivered Wednesday night in its first home win of Ashley Howard's first season as head coach.
The Explorers beat UMass, 60-51, as the Minutemen shot just 22.5 percent.
UMass (8-13, 1-7 Atlantic 10) certainly didn’t lack for attempts: they took 71 of them. Plenty were good looks that could have gone in. But Howard was right to be pleased with his team’s defensive effort, which included 10 blocks.
“Today was the first game where we played 40 minutes of our basketball … defending and rebounding and scrapping,” Howard said. “I’m just proud that these guys got to experience getting a win at home.”
UMass missed its first nine field goal attempts, but La Salle (5-14, 3-4) failed to take advantage. Only after the Minutemen went up 11-8, 6 1/2 minutes into the game, did the Explorers get going, embarking on a 12-0 run. La Salle’s lead grew as big as 29-17 later in the half, and at intermission they led 36-28.
The teams combined to score just six points in the first seven minutes of the second half. But the Explorers kept up a 40-30 lead for more than three of those minutes by pulling down five offensive rebounds.
UMass got to within 45-39 with just under eight minutes to go, but that was as close as they came. Isiah Deas and Saul Phiri hit key three-pointers down the stretch to help seal the win.
“It deflates you when you miss shot after shot after shot, and that’s happened to us in the past,” Howard said. “Today, we kept that fire on the defensive end even when we didn’t make shots, and then we had a stretch where we hit a couple late.”
Phiri ended the night as La Salle’s top scorer with 14 points.
“Coaches trust me, teammates trust me, so I’m just playing confident the whole game," he said. "When there are open shots, I’m ready to knock them down.”
UMass' top scorer was big man Rashaan Holloway, a Schalick High product from Elmer, N.J., with 15 points. He also had 14 rebounds. Luwane Pipkins, who averages 17.9 points per game, shot just 1-for-14 from the field.