La Salle eliminated by St. Bonaventure in second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament

NEW YORK — It was almost like déjà vu.

Just like in the La Salle men’s first-round Atlantic 10 tournament matchup against George Washington the day before, the No. 10-seeded Explorers fell behind No. 7 St. Bonaventure early in their second-round game. The Explorers fought back to tie the game in the second half, and brought the result down to the wire.

This time, however, the late-game magic didn’t bounce La Salle’s way, as it fell to the Bonnies, 75-73, Wednesday at the Barclays Center. St. Bonaventure advances to the quarterfinals to face No. 2 seed Loyola Chicago (23-8) on Thursday.

“We had a chance and we needed to make one better play,” said La Salle coach Fran Dunphy. “And I say to these guys all the time, if we all make one better play, and then if I make a better decision — whether it’s a substitution, a play call or defensive strategy or whatever — then we’re walking out of here with a great victory and we’re going to play Loyola tomorrow.”

With La Salle (16-17) down by two to the Bonnies (19-12) with 10 seconds remaining, Jhamir Brickus’ three-point attempt went long off the basket, and Daeshon Shepherd couldn’t get a handle on his put-back attempt at the buzzer, as the Explorers were eliminated from the tournament.

Brickus led the Explorers with 21 points, while Khalil Brantley finished with 15 and Shepherd added 10.

“Coach Dunphy has been preaching us toughness for the past two years I’ve been here,” said senior guard Anwar Gill. “We know we’re not the biggest team. We know we’re not the strongest team. But we always want to come in and play with a chip on our shoulder. And that’s what we tried to do. And we just fell short.”

For the second straight game, the Explorers were behind by nine points in the first half.

While La Salle’s defense was able to force some tough shots, the Explorers were badly beaten on the glass. The Bonnies had 12 offensive rebounds compared to La Salle’s four, leading to 11 second-chance points for St. Bonaventure. La Salle’s big men were outmuscled under the basket early on.

La Salle’s three-point shooting cut that deficit to four at one point, and the Explorers shot 50% from the field during the first half. But a string of Bonnies threes and a jumper that just beat the buzzer brought St. Bonaventure’s advantage back up to eight heading into the locker room.

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Brickus and Brantley, who were a combined 3-for-10 in the first half, came alive after the break to spark a 10-0 run that brought the Explorers back in it.

“I thought we rallied at halftime. I thought we made some good adjustments,” Dunphy said. “I thought the kids did a good job with that, thought they were very accountable to some of the plays that happened that were difficult for us.”

Brickus made a long three to cut the Bonnies’ lead to five and converted on a layup. Brantley joined the party with his own three-point bucket, before a Brickus jumper knotted the game at 52 with 11 minutes, 44 seconds remaining.

It also helped that the Explorers cleaned things up on the glass, outrebounding St. Bonaventure 20-12 in the second half.

From there, the teams traded leads, with neither able to create much separation until the final buzzer.

“I really looked forward to having another practice, having another game with these guys,” Brickus said. “Because we had a lot of ups and downs on the season, and the way after that we came out and we fought in each and every game, I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else.”