La Salle players huddle during last season's 71-66 loss to Howard. The Explorers will have a new look and new gym this season. (Photo archive: Aaron Bracy)
By JAKE COPESTICK
March 12, 2024
Special to Big5Hoops.com
Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley came up huge down the stretch to lift La Salle into the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament second round.
Brickus scored 11 of his game high 21 points in the final five-plus minutes and hit crucial shots down the stretch, and Brantley played key defense on the final possession to lift tenth-seeded La Salle to a 61-60 win over George Washington on Tuesday at Barclays Center.
The Explorers advance to play No. 7 St. Bonaventure at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Brooklyn.
With the game tied at 57 late, Brickus hit a go-ahead jumper with 2:23 remaining off a fadeaway shot in the paint to give the Explorers a 59-57 advantage. That was answered by George Washington’s Darren Buchanan Jr., who made a wide-open corner 3-pointer to give GW the lead back, 60-59 with 1:56 to play.
Then, with 20 seconds remaining in the game – and, potentially, La Salle’s season – the Explorers got the ball to Brickus, needing a bucket to put them ahead.
Brickus got some dribble penetration, used a shot-fake to get George Washington freshman Jacoi Hutchinson off the ground, took the foul and still found a way to convert a basket to give La Salle a one-point advantage.
“He just kind of worked his magic,” La Salle coach Fran Dunphy said. “He’s an amazing player. His basketball IQ is off the charts.”
The Explorers needed one last stop to spend at least one more night in Brooklyn, and to beat the Revolutionaries for the third time this season. It came down to Khalil Brantley defending James Bishop IV. Brantley forced Bishop into a tough fall-away jumper with four seconds to play that was short, but Buchanan corralled the rebound and gave Bishop one more shot at a game winner.
This one, at the buzzer, was short again.
Brantley and the Explorers stood tall. Despite being undersized, Brantley takes pride in his defense.
“Honestly, I wanted to be Defensive Player of the Year in the conference,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people, especially at my size, a lot of people look over me, like he doesn’t do this good, he doesn’t do this well. But I defend, and I feel like I can defend anybody.”
Brantley will get another chance to defend someone on Wednesday when the Explorers play St. Bonaventure. La Salle beat the Bonnies on Feb. 21 at Gola, 72-59.
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Jake Copestick broadcasts the Big 5 Pod podcast with Kyle Morello.