La Salle dominates the boards en route to a 73-65 win over St. Joseph’s
In the loss, the Hawks split their season series with the Explorers in Atlantic 10 play.
La Salle controlled the rebounding battle Sunday in a 73-65 victory over St. Joseph’s at Hagan Arena.
The Hawks (11-12, 5-6 Atlantic 10) split their season series with the Explorers (10-13, 4-6).
“I don’t want to take credit away from [La Salle]. They’re consistent,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said. “They’re the third-best offensive rebounding team in our conference and [today] they did — and we did not — rebound the way you have to rebound to have a victory.”
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Statistical leaders
St. Joe’s struggled mightily on the boards against its A-10 and Big 5 rival. The Explorers outrebounded the Hawks, 45-31.
Josh Nickelberry led La Salle with 16 points in 16 minutes off the bench. Also scoring in double figures for the Explorers were Khalil Brantley (12) and Jhamir Brickus (11).
Sophomore guard Erik Reynolds led the Hawks offensively with 15 points, shooting 6 of 15 from the field and 3 of 8 from three. Center Ejike Obinna added 14 points and five rebounds. The Hawks shot 43.5% from the field, as did La Salle.
What we saw
The Hawks fell behind 7-0 in the opening three-plus minutes, missing their first four shots. The two things that hurt St. Joe’s early on were poor shooting and turnovers. In the opening 10 minutes, the Hawks shot 5 of 13 from the field and turned the ball over six times.
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Fortunately for St. Joe’s, the Explorers were also careless with the ball in the first half, turning it over six times.
Charles Coleman played a key role in keeping the Hawks in the game in the first half. He finished with eight points, going 3-for-3 from the field and adding two offensive rebounds.
The Hawks went on a 13-7 run in the last 5½ minutes of the first half to cut their deficit to 35-30, but they continued to struggle on the boards after the break. La Salle outrebounded St. Joe’s by a margin of 24-18 in the second half.
Reynolds scored all of St. Joe’s points in an 8-2 run to draw the Hawks level at 47 for the first time since the start of the game, but a 14-5 run put La Salle back in command.
Game-changing stat
La Salle dominated the offensive glass, outrebounding the Hawks by 16-9 and outscoring them on second-chance points, 20-9.
The Hawks also shot poorly from deep, making only 24% of their three-pointers while the Explorers made 43.5%.
Up next
La Salle visits St. Bonaventure at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN+). St. Joe’s visits Loyola-Chicago at 9 p.m. Wednesday (NBC Sports Philadelphia).