La Salle falls to Rhode Island

The four of them sit at the end of the La Salle bench and provide some context to the struggles of this season and perhaps a glimpse as to what the Explorers of next season, with a full bench, might look like.

La Salle coach John Giannini has mentioned multiple times that he "overestimated" and "misevaluated" some things while "under-recruiting" this group, blaming himself for what's become a lost season on Olney Avenue.

He's talked about those four guys, though: transfers B.J. Johnson (Syracuse), Pookie Powell (Memphis), and Demetrius Henry (South Carolina) and forward Yevgen Sakhniuk, who hasn't played since mid-December because of an illness.

"We clearly have half a team," Giannini said earlier in the week, alluding to the six- to seven-man rotation he deploys. And that's especially so with leading scorer Jordan Price dealing with a broken right ring finger.

So, for now, games like the 79-62 loss to Rhode Island on Saturday provide experience for a group that - except for senior O.J. Lewis, who has appeared in just six games this season, and graduate student Rohan Brown - will all return next season with the added arsenal.

The Explorers were outscored, 50-33, in the second half.

"It's been Groundhog Day for us," Giannini said to open his postgame news conference.

La Salle (5-16, 1-9 Atlantic Ten), which has lost eight straight games and 15 of 16, got 15 points apiece from Johnnie Shuler and Cleon Roberts, with Price adding 14.

Rhode Island (13-10, 5-5), which had just five players score points until 1 minute, 17 seconds remained in the game, was led by Jarvis Garrett's career-high 26 points. Jared Terrell added 22 points, including 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range.

A tight first half featured six ties - including a 29-29 score at the break - and eight lead changes. Then Rhode Island used a 13-2 run to seize control of the game, and La Salle could never catch up, providing another learning experience that Giannini hopes prepares his program for a brighter future.

"There's the cliche, 'When you go through hard times you want to go through it with good people,' " Giannini said. "I love these kids, and they're becoming better people because of this."