By AARON BRACY
January 22, 2025
It was not a great night for the Big 5 on Wednesday, as both La Salle and Temple dropped a pair of road games.
The Explorers missed their first 17 field goal attempts of the second half, losing 64-52 at Saint Louis.
Temple never really could get things going against a tough North Texas squad, falling 76-67.
Here’s some more about the games, both of which I watched (one on the iPad and the other on the laptop).
-Saint Louis 64, La Salle 54: The Explorers were within six points, 31-25, at the break after leading by as many as eight in the opening 20 minutes. But La Salle couldn’t get anything to fall after the break until finally Daeshon Shepherd followed his own miss to end a drought of 17 missed field goals after halftime. By then, the Billikens had extended their lead to 16 points. It was only that close because Saint Louis also struggled to find the range from the field.
Deuce Jones was the lone Explorer to reach double-figures, finishing with 10 points.
La Salle finished 2 of 17 (11.8 percent) from three-point range and 22 of 65 (33.8 percent) overall.
The Explorers dropped to 10-9 overall, 2-4 in the Atlantic 10. They return home to Glaser Arena on Saturday to host Rhode Island at 2 p.m.
-North Texas 76, Temple 67: The Owls were playing from behind for most of the night, and the game never really was close in the late stages of the second half.
Quante Berry scored 24 points to pace the Owls, and Zion Stanford chipped in with 17 points. North Texas pressured Jamal Mashburn Jr. all night. The Temple star got 16 points but needed 23 field goal tries and five free throw attempts to get there.
Temple fell to 12-7 overall, 4-2 in the American Athletic Conference. The Owls continue their Texas road trip at UTSA on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.