Tough enough
Free throws, defense carry La Salle past Wood
The shrill chirping was a constant presence in La Salle’s gym Friday night.
After a foul-filled first half, things went up to a completely different level in the second half. What began as a game between two teams vying for positioning in a still crowded PCL turned into a free throw shooting display by the end of the second half.
La Salle built a third quarter lead then made enough plays and enough free throws to edge visiting Archbishop Wood 73-64 Friday night.
“We made our foul shots, so that was the major thing,” La Salle guard Allen Powell said. “We made the most of our chances and that let us come out with the ‘W’.”
In a game that saw a combined 48 fouls called, La Salle’s senior class found a way to win a game it needed to have. Fittingly, two of the team’s nine senior players combined on a pivotal fourth quarter play in the midst of a Wood comeback bid.
Powell, under immense pressure, somehow eluded a Wood trap then slung a pass to forward for an and-1 dunk. While Crisler didn’t finish the three-point play, it was the exact kind of play the Explorers needed.
“It’s a big group of seniors, we’ve been together four years, we’ve grown together and there’s a lot of maturity on the team,” Crisler said. “They started making a run at us, we
called a timeout, we had gotten on our heels a little bit but we started to play forward again.”
The Vikings didn’t point to any external factors for their shortcoming and instead focused on their own subpar shooting. Wood hit just 30 percent of its shots, and struggled to finish attempts around the rim all night
While Wood did a great job with offensive rebounds, coach John Mosco noted it was because they were missing so many first attempts right at the iron.
“We have to shoot better, they played physical and I think that took us back a little bit from getting into the lane and being able to score,” Mosco said. “We have to be able to score with hands all over us, so we have to do a better job with that.”
Powell hit a stone-cold 3-pointer four seconds before the halftime horn to send the Explorers into the break up 33-26. The guard, who has picked up several college offers in the last two weeks, scored a game-high 23 but his dime to Crisler for the dunk with 1:45 left, giving La Salle a 63-55 lead, was just as important.
“That was awesome, it’s the stuff you don’t see in games but comes from all the things we work on in practice,” Crisler, who scored 19, said. “We’re just trying to play unselfish and find each other. Allen found me and made it easy to finish the play.”
Powell had nine points as part of a 20-point La Salle third quarter which allowed the Explorers to open up a 5339 lead.
“We executed on our plays we ran offensively and played good defense,” Powell said.
Wood cut the lead all the way down to 59-55 with 2:08 left, but a foul sent Jake Timby to the line where he made both. After La Salle got a stop, Powell found Crisler and the Explorers regained control.
La Salle made 16 of its 19 fourth free throws and 26-of31 for the game.
“We work on it all the time in practice,” Powell said. “If you make them in practice, you’ll make them in a game.”