Crisler, La Salle get passing grade at Bonner & Prendergast
UPPER DARBY >> The statistic was readily shared with Zach Crisler off La Salle’s iPad program, so he’s all too happy to pass it along.
On 20 made baskets against Bonner & Prendergast Wednesday night, the Explorers handed out 13 assists, led by the five dimes that the 6-foot-9 Crisler distributed. When the junior forward, after a 61-50 win, opined that, “You couldn’t ask for a better team win that that,” he had the facts to back it up.
That’s before he got into specifics. About the no-look pass that Sean Simon tossed to Kahlil Diarrah for a corner 3-pointer that put La Salle up five in the fourth quarter. Or the pass that Diarrah, while falling out of bounds, directed volleyball-style toward Titus Beard for an open triple. Or Crisler threading a pass to Diarrah for a lay-in that put the Explorers (10-6, 3-4 Catholic League) up seven with three minutes to play and on the way to handing Bonner & Prendie (13-3, 6-1) its first league loss.
That level of ball movement is the recipe for an 8-for-18 day from beyond the 3-point arc, facilitated by bigs who were giving up height and length and picked the higher-percentage route of attack on the perimeter.
“They’re a big post presence down there, so everyone has to look to the ball,” said La Salle point guard Allen Powell, who led all scorers with 19 points. “Our big men are good passers, find us on the 3(-point line) and we make the shots.”
But the passing prowess was only half of Crisler’s contributions. Bonner’s Tariq Ingraham, who led the Friars with 17 points, got the better of him in the low blocks. But Crisler’s ability to hold his own without help defense collapsing allowed La Salle to stay tight on Bonner’s cadre of shooters, holding them to 0-for-13 from beyond the arc.
Ingraham imposed himself on the game, with 17 points and seven rebounds. But Ajiri Johnson was comparatively muted, with just three field-goal attempts and four points to go with nine rebounds. With Crisler and Diarrah limiting the damage on the glass and an intermittent 1-3-1 zone forcing jump shots, La Salle negated the edge of Bonner’s two towering post players.
“They’re big bodies, of course,” Crisler said. “… Kahlil was a huge part of that. We just played tough on the glass, limited second-chance points, that was huge.”
“Coach told me at the start of the game to bring energy, get the offense going,” Ingraham said. “We know they were going to guard the perimeter a lot. With Isaiah Wong, they’re going to tightly guard him, so they were going to get me open.”
Powell the pull up J, then Diarrah goes the length of the court. La Salle up 49-42. 3:06 left. pic.twitter.com/5B8SjGB0Yt
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) January 25, 2018
The other missing ingredient was Wong, who wasn’t his usual influential self. Playing through an illness, he managed to amass 15 points, but he made just three baskets, came up empty on three long-range attempts and fouled out without putting his customary stamp on the game. With point guard Tyreese Watson (knee) also out of action, the Friars backcourt couldn’t mount a charge in the fourth.
La Salle, though, got points from everywhere. Powell scored 10 in the first half to keep the Explorers afloat, down four at the break. His pair of first-half 3-pointers set the tone for a hot shooting night.
“It was a big challenge,” Powell said. “We knew we had to come in here and play hard. We knew we had to leave everything on the floor, step up and bounce back from the tough games we had before.”
Powell the pull up J, then Diarrah goes the length of the court. La Salle up 49-42. 3:06 left. pic.twitter.com/5B8SjGB0Yt
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) January 25, 2018
Simon chipped in 13 points, connecting on three triples. Beard and Diarrah tallied 11 each, combining for 15 in the fourth on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. And Crisler pulled down eight rebounds and scored seven points to go with his five assists.
“We came out in the second half and we decided, we’re not going to let this one go,” Crisler said. “We just kept chipping away, chipping away slowly all the way down, and then hit our free throws at the end.”
La Salle went up for good on (what else?) a connection between bigs when Jack Rothenberg hit Diarrah for a lay-up on an inbounds play late in the third quarter at 32-31. The lead stretched to double-figures, and despite some spotty free-throw shooting late, Bonner’s misses from 3-point land outweighed them.
Ingraham was sanguine about the loss. The Friars had just survived three consecutive two-point decisions, and before that got the better of reigning PIAA Class 5A champion Archbishop Wood. Though Neumann-Goretti is the last remaining unbeaten in the league, the Friars are still well-positioned … and in a spot to learn from Wednesday.
“We’re not going to win every game,” Ingraham said. “We’ve going to have to come back from this and go even harder next game.”
Also in the Catholic League:
Cardinal O’Hara 54, St. Joseph’s Prep 42 >> Antwuan Butler scored 19 points, and Jordan Hall chipped in 14 as the Lions (8-6, 3-4) rode a 20-12 edge in the third quarter to a victory. Kevin Reeves chipped in nine points.
In the Bicentennial League:
Delco Christian 54, Holy Ghost Prep 41 >> Jackson Piotrowski scored 21 points, Tyler Penley added 11 and Jacob Bronkema contributed 10 as the Knights (8-6, 5-6) shook off a slow start to nab a vital league win.
