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Pookie Powell has helped a young La Salle team stay together

The senior is leading the Explorers in scoring and minutes played.

Pookie Powell (right), driving against Randall West of UMass, leads the Explorers in points and minutes.
Pookie Powell (right), driving against Randall West of UMass, leads the Explorers in points and minutes.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

During a season that began with 10 straight losses and has turned around, La Salle guard Pookie Powell has been one of the true stabilizing forces.

This is his third season at La Salle after he began his career at Memphis, and Powell is the only senior receiving major rotation minutes. Powell, who missed three games earlier this season because of a lower back injury, enters Tuesday’s game against St. Joseph’s averaging team highs in scoring (15.8 points a game) and minutes (32.6). He is shooting just 31 percent from three-point range, but 82.9 percent from the foul line.

More than the statistics, he has provided leadership for first-year coach Ashley Howard, whose team has gone 6-4 after that rough start.

“He is the hardest-working guy on the team, a gym rat,” Howard said after last week’s 60-51 win over visiting UMass. “He has created a culture on the team of coming in and working out, always pushing teammates in the gym.”

The 6-foot Powell had always been a point guard before coming to La Salle, but over the last few seasons, he has spent considerable time off the ball as well.

“I feel I am versatile and can play either way,” Powell said.

While he is comfortable as a catch-and-shoot player, Powell also can get his own shot off the dribble.

“When I was younger, my dad had me training and doing stuff off the dribble all the time because he emphasized that I couldn’t be a one-trick pony,” said Powell, who attended Dr. Phillips High in Orlando. “During the offseason, I will be working on that heavily.”

Before then, Powell thinks the Explorers can do some damage in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. “That is the goal,” he said. “At this time of year, some teams fall off and others improve, and we feel we are improving.”

After his college career, Powell says he has professional ambitions. “I am going to find the right agent and try to play professionally,” he said. “My main goal is to make the NBA, and I will keep pursuing that dream until I can’t play anymore.”

During his three seasons at La Salle, he has scored more than 1,200 points, but Powell likely will be most remembered for how he kept a young team from falling apart after the roughest of starts this season.

“He is such a positive kid,” Howard said. “Even when we were struggling early in the season, he was always upbeat, always positive and never holding his head, never defiant or going against the grain in what we were trying to do. And that has helped us make strides as the season goes on.”