鈥淵ou guys don鈥檛 want to know what I said in there,鈥� Schertz said after the game.

It may have been the most effective timeout he will ever call. After 30 seconds of expressing his displeasure with his team鈥檚 play, SLU went back on the court and pretty much shut down La Salle for the next 20 minutes. The Explorers made just three of their next 32 shots, at one point missing 20 in a row. That was enough that, even with SLU having one of its worst shooting nights of the season, it was able to post a 64-52 win at Chaifetz Arena.

鈥淛ust trying to hold us accountable,鈥� said SLU center Robbie Avila, who had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. 鈥淲e knew we were playing really bad. We were letting them get whatever they want on our defensive side, and then offensively, we were getting bad shots, tracing that 3-point line, and so we knew that was not a way that we were going to be able to win that game. So we had to course correct ourselves and lock back in and get to the game plan that we originally had, and I think it worked out for us.鈥�

鈥淚 think we just locked in,鈥� said forward Kalu Anya, who had his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of moments in games where we just lock in defensively and we鈥檙e just a great defensive team. But there鈥檚 also moments where we鈥檙e not locked in and we鈥檙e a bad defensive team. I think we鈥檝e just got to focus on being a complete team throughout the whole game.鈥�

SLU, which improved to 12-7 overall and 5-1 in the Atlantic 10, got some help along the way, as La Salle missed a layup, took some shots that missed by a lot and had a tip-in basket wiped out on a goaltending call. By the time La Salle started scoring again on a regular basis, SLU had gone on a 34-10 run and taken a 43-27 lead.

The lead probably should have been bigger, but SLU was having a terrible shooting night of its own. SLU made just 3 of 17 3-pointers in the first half on its way to shooting 21.2% on 3s in the game, one of its worst nights of the season. Isaiah Swope made 2 of 10 3s, and Gibson Jimerson made 1 of 9. It鈥檚 one of the things that made the win, SLU鈥檚 sixth in its past seven games, even sweeter: SLU won鈥檛 have that many games where it shoots that poorly, so to win one because of its defense bodes well for when it does shoot well.

鈥淚 thought our defense from about the 10-minute mark of the first half to the 10-minute mark of the second half,鈥� said Schertz, 鈥渨as about as good as I鈥檝e seen for 17 years as a head coach. We forced 20 straight missed shots, some of them they missed, but a lot of them I thought we did a great job contesting. I thought we competed our brains out defensively, and that鈥檚 really hard to do when you鈥檙e stinking it up offensively.

鈥淲e were missing a ton of shots and that was a game, six weeks ago, we lose. If you would have told me before the game we go 7 for 33 from 3 鈥� Gib and Swope go 5 for 24 鈥� and we turned it over 18 times, I would have said, we鈥檙e absolutely getting hammered. And to win that game by double figures, just, I think, shows the growth. That game will not be headed to Springfield. It is not going to be a Hall of Fame-type game, but it鈥檚 a good win because of the quality of team we played, and the fact we had to overcome all that, and we didn鈥檛 let our offense bleed into our defense, to our competitiveness.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 big when you can win games where we鈥檙e not shooting the ball well, when the top two guys are ice cold from the 3-point line,鈥� Avila said. 鈥淲e were missing some easy ones. And so it鈥檚 huge for us defensively, to be able to hold the team to 52 points. I think it shows the growth that we made. Obviously, there鈥檚 still a lot of areas we could fix in defensive rebounding, and with our switching and stuff like that. It is big to get a win like this. And we鈥檝e got to continue to build off and get to the next one.鈥�

It was another game where the bench didn鈥檛 do much. Amari McCottry came in in the first half, airballed a 3 and didn鈥檛 get back defensively 鈥� that was the play that led to the game-changing timeout 鈥� and Schertz took him out after just 25 seconds. Dylan Warlick got the most time off the bench, 14 minutes. Schertz said both Avila and Kobe Johnson were having trouble breathing at points in the second half and had to stay on the bench a little longer.

SLU got the lead to 21 points at 58-37 with 5:04 to play and just when it looked like Schertz could clear his bench, SLU鈥檚 defense clicked off and with 2:32 to play, La Salle had cut the lead to 13 points, and Schertz had to bring Avila, who he had taken out of the game, back in. La Salle got as close as 10 points, but by then, it was inside the final minute. Still, Schertz couldn鈥檛 clear his bench.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no way that game should get to 10 points,鈥� Schertz said. 鈥淣o way. But it does if you throw the ball to the other team every possession, if you don鈥檛 get back in transition, which we couldn鈥檛 really guard our turnovers. And then we stopped guarding the ball, and we stopped rebounding. ... The last five minutes, that鈥檚 absolutely not who we want to be. But it doesn鈥檛 diminish all the things that we did to put ourselves in position to be up 21.鈥�