La Salle's win over Drexel lacks offensive punch
Cleon Roberts scores 15 off bench in Explorers' 65-55 win.
AFTER THE first month of the season, scoring is way down all over college basketball. The city is no different.
La Salle and Drexel have each been playing solid defense, but points have been an ongoing problem. So when those two hooked up Saturday at the DAC, 60 was always going to be a good number. La Salle got there first. Drexel never got there.
La Salle led almost all the way and finished it off, 65-55. The Dragons (2-6) had just 22 points at the half. La Salle (5-4) got 33 in the first half, 32 in the second and won the game twice.
The Explorers' 11-point halftime lead melted to just 33-30 at the start of the second, but they stretched it out again quickly and finished with the kind of lead it had almost all game.
Drexel's starters actually outscored La Salle's by 10 points, but La Salle got 34 points from its bench to just 14 for Drexel. One of Drexel's many issues is that some of its bench is now starting due to injuries.
Cleon Roberts had 15 points in 29 minutes off La Salle's bench. Rohan Brown had a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) in the same amount of bench minutes. La Salle's starting bigs, seniors Steve Zack and Jerrell Wright, got eight points and 11 rebounds in 30 combined minutes.
La Salle won it with its defense or, depending on your viewpoint, Drexel's lack of offense. The Dragons, who have scored 70 points only once all season, had 16 turnovers against seven assists. Star Damion Lee (19 points) did what he does. He is one of the very best players in the city. Tavon Allen had 14. Freshman point guard Rashann London, who was ticketed to come off the bench before injuries changed that, had 10 points, six turnovers and no assists.
Drexel is 285th nationally in offensive efficiency and was even worse than its average against the Explorers, scoring just .830 points per possession.