Men’s Basketball Edged At La Salle

Saturday, November 20

Philadelphia, PA

4:00 PM

Army West Point

3-2,0-0Patriot

La Salle University

2-2,0-0Atlantic 10

Army West Point

La Salle

Men’s Basketball Edged At La Salle

November 20, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Game 5
SCORE	La Salle Explorers 61, Army Black Knights 58
RECORDS	La Salle (2-2) \| Army (3-2)
LEADING SCORERS	La Salle – Jhamir Brickus (14) \| Army – Jalen Rucker, Charlie Peterson (13)
LOCATION	Gola Arena

PHILADELPHIA – The Black Knights had their two-game win streak end in a nail-biting 61-58 defeat to the La Salle Explorers on Saturday.

GAME SUMMARY
The contest, in which neither team led by more than eight points, was not decided until the last 30 seconds. The Black Knights had several chances to either tie or take the lead in the final two minutes, including a missed corner 3-pointer by Jalen Rucker with 14 seconds left with Army trailing 60-58.

Army had rallied from an eight-point deficit early in the second half to lead 56-54 with three minutes remaining. The Explorers started the second half by outscoring the Black Knights, 11-5, for a 42-34 lead with 15:52 on the clock. Army answered by outscoring La Salle, 13-5, over the next four minutes to tie the game at 47-47.

Army faced another deficit, trailing 54-49 with seven minutes left when the Cadets surged in front behind a 7-0 spurt with Josh Caldwell and Charlie Peterson providing the scoring for a 56-54 advantage with 3:58 left. La Salle halted the run with a 3-pointer by Jhamir Brickus, which proved to be the go-ahead points for the Explorers, with three minutes remaining, Josh Caldwell made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 59-58 with 38 seconds on the clock. Army forced a turnover on the ensuing possession for La Salle but failed to convert the turnover into points.

The first half was dictated by two runs – one by each team. Trailing 17-12 with nine minutes remaining, the Black Knights went on a 13-2 run over the next five minutes. Army scored six straight points, capped by a Jalen Rucker layup and free throw, for its first lead at 18-17. TJ Small drained a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired for a 25-19 lead with four minutes left in the opening half. The Explorers responded by closing the half on a 12-4 run, including scoring the next 10 points, for a 31-29 halftime lead.

CADETS CAPSULES

Jalen Rucker finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and two assists.
Charlie Peterson scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
TJ Small scored nine points – all coming from 3-pointers – and added five rebounds.
Aaron Duhart had a team-high four assists to have at least four assists in every game this season.

COACH' S CORNER
"I thought we got some decent looks that we did knockdown, but I thought we really battled and gave ourselves a chance to win the basketball game. I think this game is that we can definitely take and we're going to get better from it. We did some really good things we got down eight and we gave ourselves a chance to win a game on the road.

On the underclassmen performance…
"I was proud of our young guys and that's probably the most exciting thing is we're playing with just freshmen and sophomores on the floor in a road game against an A-10 team and those guys made enough plays to give us a chance to win, and I was proud of them. We're disappointed because we didn't play our best and we had some opportunities that we could have converted and we didn't but that's part of the game and we will learn from it."

UP NEXT

The Black Knights host Wagner on Wednesday, November 24 at 4 p.m. to start a three-game homestand.
Coverage will be provided by the ESPN+ and by the Army Sports Network via the Varsity Sports Network, www.GoArmyWestPoint.com.
For ticket information, call 1-877-TIX-ARMY or visit www.goarmywestpoint.com/tickets.

Follow Along
For complete coverage of Army West Point men's basketball, follow the Black Knights on Twitter, Instagram, and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.