LaSalle rebounds and takes down Hawks on MLK Day

NCAA BASKETBALL: MAR 14 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship – St Josephs v Dayton
14 MAR 2013: Saint Joseph’s Hawks Mascot during the first half of the game between the Saint Joseph’s Hawks and the Dayton Flyers played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn,NY. The Saint Joseph’s Hawks defeated the Dayton Flyers 70-67.

Philadelphia: The Entire nation celebrated MLK Day on Monday and the Saint Joseph’s Hawks were looking for another reason to celebrate. A matchup against LaSalle lay on the horizon, but could they secure a win?

LaSalle limped into the game after a bad loss to Davidson this past Saturday, while the Hawks came into this City 6 battle off of a loss to Davidson on January 12th.

The Hawks jumped out to a 31-21 lead with 9:42 left in the first period. The Explorers would fight their way back and with a series of 3 pointers which gave them the lead.

The scoring remained close until the explorers took control, going into halftime with a 48-42 lead.

In the Second Half, LaSalle continued to keep the pressure on the hawks and show off some very good ball movement.

The Explorers would at one point push the lead up to 20 with 6:48 left, but the Hawks refused to go down, cutting the lead down to 7 before time expired.

The story of this game was interior offense. The Explorers had 58 points inside the paint while the hawks had 42. The bench play of LaSalle was a huge reason behind the victory, with 33 points coming from the non-starters.

Postgame:

Saint Joseph’s Coach Billy Lange spoke about the bench production in the win over LaSalle

LaSalle Coach Ashley Howard on how the team responded from their bad loss to Davidson over the weekend:

Jared Kimbrough lead LaSalle with 24 points while Jack Forrest lead the Hawks with 25 points.

What’s up Next:

The Saint Joseph’s Hawks will now get ready to take on George Mason on January 20 while LaSalle goes to battle with Richmond on January 23.

Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire