(And much more below the game story . . . )
  Is “torturous” an adequate word to describe the final moments of today’s New Year’s Eve contest between La Salle and Malvern Prep? The Explorers’ record currently stands at 3-5, one that cannot fully represent the three one-point losses that this team has experienced so far. Malvern is the culmination of a frustrating non-league stretch for La Salle, one that has caused Coach Joe Dempsey some anguish, but one that will hopefully lead to an emotionally and physically prepared team once league games are here. This article will take the form of a super-recap of La Salle’s offseason, with today’s game being their final non-league match before Catholic League play begins on Thursday.
  First, let’s talk about the Malvern Prep game. The game, a 1:30 p.m. finale of a tripleheader at La Salle, began on a very good note. Before the game, there was an honorary ceremony for Meghan Kensil and Nick McGee—La Salle’s honorary captains—who received medals from Dempsey courtesy of the area program Athletes Helping Athletes, which helps special needs athletes. After the opening festivities, fans and coaches settled into their places for the long haul. This game would last a good while, with the final minute of the fourth quarter feeling like it took place for an hour.
  The first quarter consisted of a duel between Malvern senior forward Brendan Kilpatrick (16 points) and La Salle junior center Ryan Winslow (14 points). For the first time this year, Dempsey changed up the opening lineup, starting Winslow in place of fellow junior Matt Rodden (12 points). Kilpatrick was as good as advertised, making a strong entrance with 2 quick treys and a dunk in the first quarter. But Winslow, with the La Salle crowd behind him (“He’s our kicker!” they yelled, alluding to Winslow’s role on the football team), fired right back with 3 straight jumpers, helping La Salle gain a 14-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Explorers took over from the outset. Dempsey went “big” to start the second quarter, starting Rodden (6’ 6”), Winslow (6’ 5”), sophomore PG Amar Stukes (6’ 1”), junior F Steve Smith (6’ 7”), and senior F Matt Murphy (6’ 4”). It seemed to work for the Explorers, as Kilpatrick was shut out for the entire quarter and Malvern as a team was held to just five points. For La Salle, Rodden mimicked Winslow’s performance in the previous quarter, as Rodden drained his signature corner jumper three times as La Salle gained a 27-18 halftime advantage.
  The second half brought strong play from Malvern, but the Friars still could not crack La Salle’s lead. Even so, seniors Steve Perpiglia (12 points) and Tom Pitt (17 points) began to make their presence felt in the game. At the end of the third quarter, La Salle still led 38-31, but the game was about to change drastically.
  Let’s fast-forward a little bit. Malvern has come strong at the Explorers, using Pitt, Perpiglia, and second-half newcomer junior F Alex Dentinger (4 points) to give hope to the Malvern side. The Friars had not been able to break the Explorers’ seven point lead, but with 1 minute left and the score 55-48, La Salle could sense an uprising. The final minute will surely cause debate, sadness, and anger in some fans. For me, it felt almost like a blur, even among the litany of timeouts.
  At a minute remaining, La Salle led by seven, but was in deep foul trouble with Murphy, Smith, and Winslow each having 4 fouls. For Malvern, Kilpatrick also had 4 fouls. As the minute progressed, Smith and Winslow would foul out for La Salle, as would Kilpatrick for Malvern. Strong play from Pitt (2 dunks) catapulted the Friars to within three, down 55-52. A controversial play occurred before Pitt’s second dunk. During a tussle over what appeared to be a jump ball, Malvern coach Jim Rullo called a timeout. The La Salle bench erupted. In honesty (without sounding too biased), the call appeared quite egregious—Malvern could not have had definitive possession. Anyhow, Malvern got their timeout (their last one) and proceeded to make a comeback. At this point, La Salle had one timeout left. On the ensuing Malvern possession, Perpiglia was fouled and faced a one-and-one foul shooting situation with 20 seconds remaining. At this point, the crowd was still ambivalent as to what could happen. Mr. Carabello, “the voice of La Salle basketball,” said quite earnestly, “This foul might actually be a good thing.” Perpiglia had to make the first shot AND intentionally miss the second shot to keep his team alive. If La Salle was to regain possession at any point during this stretch, Malvern was toast—Dempsey still had a timeout to call. Malvern would have had to foul La Salle, whose foul shooting had improved. But alas! the fates did not align for the Explorers today. Perpiglia made the first foul shot. Then on his second shot, the ball rebounded off of the backboard into a sea of outstretched arms and jumping players. When the dust cleared, the ball had gone out of bounds off of Malvern. La Salle appeared to have the game in their grasp as they inbounded the ball, but a faulty inbound put the ball in Pitt’s hands as Malvern regained possession. As time ticked away, Perpiglia launched a three-pointer…which sank right through the hoop. The Friars bench burst onto the court in celebration (which did lead to the somewhat-comical situation where the Malvern manager beseeched his team “Guys, go back! Go back!”). Dempsey took his final timeout with three ticks on the clock. During the final play, Stukes could not cement a win, and La Salle had fallen again. Allegedly Malvern had six kids on the court during the final play. I personally did not see it, so I cannot criticize the referees for missing it either. In truth, the Friars were probably a bit disorganized following their impromptu celebration from Perpiglia’s shot.
  La Salle fell to Malvern—nobly, but mightily. The Explorers added another one-point loss to their arsenal, but before recapping those games, I want to talk about more positive things.
THE GOOD TIMES
  La Salle had two strong wins in December versus Souderton and Spring-Ford. Both games featured strong performances by Steve Smith (18 pts against Souderton, 17 pts against Spring-Ford). In its second game of the season against Souderton, La Salle was dominant. Amar Stukes put up 23 points with 6 assists. La Salle never once ceded control of the game, en route to a 72-58 victory. Souderton actually holds many connections to La Salle: basketball head coach Dennis Stanton is actually a graduate of La Salle (class of 2000), and running the scoreboard that night was Tim Seeley, husband of La Salle teacher Pam Seeley.
  A 62-39 win over Spring-Ford was another bright light for La Salle during its non-league stretch. With Stukes only scoring 2 points on the day, the rest of the Explorers rallied around him. Nine players scored for La Salle, with three (Murphy, Rodden, and Smith) scoring in double digits. Stukes did contribute his bit though with eight assists.
  La Salle’s brilliant overtime win over Imhotep Charter helped bring some light to a dreary month. For more in-depth information on the game, see Ted Silary’s report. La Salle saw great play from its big men (Winslow—12pts, Rodden—18pts, sent the game into overtime with a trey, and Murphy—amazing dunk in fourth quarter, important trey in overtime) and from Stukes (14pts). “Mar-Mar” scored 8pts in the overtime period to cement a La Salle 62-54 victory.
THE TOUGH TIMES
  It is never fun to brood over missed shots, forgone rebounds, and blown games…but it is something that must be done. La Salle lost five games this offseason, three by one-point and another by two points. Let’s recap:
  In its opening game, La Salle fell 66-65 to Philadelphia Electric Charter School. Stukes scored over 20pts, but the Explorers simply could not pull out a win. The next tough loss for the Explorers was to Plymouth-Whitemarsh. La Salle was in rough water the entire game due to the superb play of P-W center Jake Silvers. Stukes helped keep the Explorers close with 22 points on the day, but good foul shooting from the Colonials in the game’s final minutes kept the Explorers at bay. With La Salle down four points in the game’s final moments, Stukes chucked a hopeless three-pointer…which went in…bringing an erstwhile jubilant feeling to another unhappy day for La Salle. Rodden also scored 12 points in the loss.
  La Salle followed the Imhotep game with a 64-53 loss to Council Rock North. The Explorers were hampered from the beginning due to the early loss of their coach. Dempsey was ejected early in the game because of the “double technical = you’re out” rule in basketball. While I was not at the game, and thus cannot bindingly give my interpretation of the event, the story was told to me something like this: “Dempsey is instructing one of his players. A faraway referee misinterprets this as Dempsey yelling at another referee close to Dempsey. The faraway referee gives Dempsey a technical. As Dempsey protests this call with the faraway ref, the close referee T’s up Dempsey for arguing, giving him the two technicals.” The Explorers’ scoring in the game was led by senior G Darnell Artis (14pts). Stukes and Winslow added 13pts each.
  The C.R. North loss was followed by a 50-48 loss to Wissahickon. With Dempsey forced to sit out a game extending from his ejection, assistant Jim Sheedy led the Explorers. After La Salle trailed 50-48 with 20 seconds remaining, their final play could not reach the hoop—giving us the final score. Stukes scored 15pts in the loss; Winslow scored 10pts.
A LOOK AHEAD
  La Salle has had a rough month. While the Explorers might be a bit disheartened heading into Catholic League play, there were still some very bright moments. Ryan Winslow has shown himself to be an absolute force for La Salle. He has a great jumper and barely misses a foul shot. I foresee him making huge plays for La Salle down the stretch. Likewise, Matt Rodden has proven himself to be a major player for La Salle. Ted Silary said it best: “La Salle has no true big man.” Players like Rodden, Murphy, Winslow, and Smith can shoot, dribble, and rebound. I think of Rodden as La Salle’s center, and then I see him shoot a trey…and make it. When Dempsey plays the lineup of Stukes, Rodden, Murphy, Winslow, and Smith, it is very hard to cover. I think that in deep Catholic League matches, Dempsey might briefly pull Artis to create a “big” look.
  Hail La Salle and let’s get ready for a great Catholic League season, but before preparation for Neumann-Goretti on Thursday begins…let’s remember Malvern. As La Salle ascended to its second-floor locker room, the sounds of Malvern’s screaming players could be easily heard. Let that be a sound that is rarely heard this season.
NOTES
  During my season-recap for the football team, I used the word “dominant” to describe North Penn’s win over La Salle. I do not think that this word does justice to the game that La Salle played. The players really brought their A-game until the end. I just want to correct that error and apologize for skewing what was really a great effort by the La Salle players.