SPRINGFIELD >> La Salle played some good basketball over the first three-and-a-half weeks of the new year, but didn’t have anything to show for it. Seven games, seven losses.
The Explorers had a five-game stretch where they lost all five by an average of four points-per-game. That included a three-point loss to St. Joe’s Prep and a four-point loss to Archbishop Wood, two teams that are a combined 14-4 in Philadelphia Catholic League play.
Despite the ugly record, La Salle stuck to its plan. The Explorers got their first PCL win of the season Monday against Conwell-Egan and made it two straight Wednesday, hammering Lansdale Catholic, 66-36, at La Salle College High School.
With a 2-7 PCL record, La Salle is tied for 10th place in the 14-team league with four games to go. Ten teams qualify for playoffs.
“I haven’t really looked ahead and our guys try to stay locked in one game at a time,” La Salle coach Ryan Ansel said. “As you know in this league every game counts. I think we’ve done a good job. We’ve had some tough breaks, but we’ve kept preaching that we’re going to learn a lesson that will help us be successful in that next game. I think the guys have bought in. We’ve got two down, but we’ve got a few more to go and I think these guys are starting to believe that they can play with anyone, which we’ve been telling them from the beginning, but they had to see it. Learning to win is a big thing. I think getting it at Egan, it went into overtime so we got extra reps and extra four minutes to get better, and all that time, all those reps, matter to help these guys get to that next level.”
“We feel good,” La Salle’s Nick Parisi, who scored 27 points against Conwell-Egan and nine against LC, said. “That’s two wins under our belt. We struggled early in the season, but we just want to build on these two wins and get more wins in the future.
“We knew we could compete with all those teams. It wasn’t really a surprise to us that they were such close games. We really wanted to win those, but we’re just looking to the future, not worried about the past. Just want to win games.”
The Explorers were clicking on all cylinders in their win over Lansdale Catholic (0-9 PCL). They led 18-4 after the first quarter, 41-19 at half and 60-24 through three.
In the first half, five different players hit three-pointers. Liam Hawley (12 points) and Luke Hudock (nine points) each hit two from beyond the arc while Parisi, Hayes Altomare and Will Baer each knocked down one.
“We had all the energy from the fans,” Parisi said. “That helped. We were all shooting well. The energy we had tonight really helped us shoot.”
“We try to put the kids in position to be successful and get open shots,” Ansel said. “I know early in the year we were shooting 40 percent. That’s something that these guys have worked hard all summer to be ready to make these shots when they got them. It’s good to see a bunch of different guys get those shots and put them in.”
La Salle only turned the ball over six times in the game. A pair of those happened in the final minutes when both teams emptied their benches.
La Salle is back in action Friday when it visits Archbishop Ryan (6-3 PCL) before closing the regular season with a three-game homestand against West Catholic (2-7 PCL), Neumann-Goretti (7-1 PCL) and Father Judge (7-2 PCL).
“It’s one game at a time,” Ansel said. “We control our own destiny. We just have to keep going one game at a time. You can’t look past anyone and every game is going to be a battle. It’s one game at a time, one practice at a time. We’ve got to keep getting better. All year I think we’ve gotten better at practice, game-by-game and that doesn’t change now.”
“Looking at the last four games,” Parisi said, “we’re just trying to win as many as we can and try to make playoffs. That’s the main goal right now.”
Rowan Romero led Lansdale Catholic with seven points while James Webb added six and Brendan Stewart and Jordan Miller each had five.
SILENT NIGHT
La Salle celebrated its annual Silent Night against Lansdale Catholic. The student section filled half of the gym with students dressed in Halloween costumes. They sat silently until the Explorers scored 10 points. When Parisi’s baseline jumper gave La Salle a 10-2 lead halfway through the first quarter, the crowd jumped to its feet and were loud the rest of the game.
“It’s a great environment,” Parisi said. “My first time. It was really special for me and just a great overall experience.”
“As a coach you don’t like any outside distractions, but I thought our guys handled it well,” Ansel said. “They played within themselves, played for each other and when you do that the 10 points comes a lot faster.”
La Salle 66, Lansdale Catholic 36
Lansdale Catholic 4 15 5 12 – 36
La Salle 18 23 19 6 – 66
LC: Brendan Stewart 2 0 1-1 5, Rowan Romero 2 0 3-5 7, Anthony Fitzgerald 0 1 0-0 3, Cole Meehan 0 0 0-0 0, James Wedd 2 0 2-2 6, Yeoba Cobbold 0 0 2-4 2, Carey Romero 0 0 0-0 0, Anthony Wack 0 1 0-0 3, Jack Trzeciak 1 0 1-2 3, Braeden Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Jordan Miller 1 1 0-0 5. Total 9 3 9-14 36.
LS: Liam Hawley 2 2 2-3 12, Nick Parisi 3 1 0-0 9, Grayson McKeough 2 0 0-0 4, Hayes Altomare 2 1 0-0 7, Joe Shields 1 0 2-2 4, Will Baer 2 1 0-0 7, Luke Hudock 0 3 0-0 9, Albert Zone 1 0 0-2 2, Joey O’Brien 3 0 2-4 8, Cole Santiago 0 0 0-0 0, Aasim Mitchell 1 0 0-0 2, Ryan Damon 0 0 2-2 2, Prestin Washington 0 0 0-0 0, JP Oates 0 0 0-0 0, Franklin Gilbert 0 0 0-0 0. Total 17 8 8-13 66.
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