Complete Game Notes

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Howard men's basketball team will host La Salle in its home opener on Tuesday night. The Explorers enter the game with a 1-1 record after dropping their opener at home to UMBC, 76-69 on Nov. 13 and then recording a 66-63 win over Mount St. Mary's on the road on Saturday.  The Bison (1-2) picked up their first win of the season this past Saturday with an 80-65 road victory over Penn after opening the season with losses at Duquesne and Virginia.

THE COACHES:  LaSalle is coached by Dr. John Giannini (North central College, ‘84), who is in his third season there and has a 29-30 record to date.  Dr. Giannini's overall record is 324-179 in 17-plus years of coaching to date.  Howard is coached by Gil Jackson (Elizabethtown College, '69), who is also in his third season and has a 17-46 career record to date.

SERIES RECORD:  The Explorers defeated the Bison, 84-78 last November in Philadelphia, PA. and lead the series, 4-0.

PROBABLE STARTERS

HOWARD                                                      LASALLE
05 Adam Walker (0.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg)               12 Yves Mekongo Mbala (9.5, 4.5)
10 Randy Hampton (8.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg)           20 Jerell Williams (10.0, 6.5)
33 Eugene Myatt (21.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg)            31 Paul Johnson (7.5, 7.5)
22 Jeron Smith (10.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg)               10 Rodney Green (15.0, 5.0 apg)
0 Curtis White (4.3 ppg, 3.7 apg)                 11 Darnell Harris (15.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg)

KEY RESERVES
15 Kyle Riley (12.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg)                   05 Kimmani Barrett (4.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
11 Timothy Torrence (2.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg)         21 Terrell Williams (2.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg)

LASALLE NOTES: Paul Johnson, the starting forward for LaSalle, played his prep ball locally at Gonzaga...the backcourt of Darnell Harris and Rodney Green are averaging 30 points between them...the Explorers have outscored their opponents, 68-56 in the first half, but have been out-scored 83-67 in the second stanza...they are shooting 81 percent from the free throw line as a team...LaSalle is averaging almost 20 turnovers per game.

BISON HOOVES: Howard opponents are shooting 55 percent from the field this season, including 41 percent from the three-point line...in addition to averaging almost 22 points per game through three games, Myatt is shooting a blistering 62 percent from the floor, 61 percent from the three-point line and 87 percent from the charity stripe...freshman Kyle Riley has been very productive coming off the bench, averaging almost 13 points while shooting 46 percent from beyond the arc...Adam Walker, another freshman, made his debut against Penn after sitting out the first two games with an injury and tallied 7 rebounds and 5 assists in 24 minutes...Myatt's 36-point effort against Penn was five points off his career high that he scored against VMI last season.

NEXT UP: LaSalle takes on St. Francis of PA on November 24 at 2 pm while the Bison take on Loyola of Maryland in the Philly Classic on Friday at the Palestra...they will play the winner or loser of the Drexel-Robert Morris game on Saturday at either 12 noon or 2 pm...it will be another reunion of sorts for Myatt, a Philadelphia native, when he faces LaSalle.